In-rack refrigerant distribution unit with pressure control system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for cooling a datacenter are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit (RDU) distributes refrigerant to one or more colds plates in association with a pressure control system to enable a pressure-drop before an expansion valve for a liquid-phase of a refrigerant based in part on a pressure of a liquid-phase of a refrigerant exceeding a first threshold and based in part on a temperature associated with one or more cold plates being below a second threshold.

FIELD

At least one embodiment pertains to cooling systems, including systems and methods for operating those cooling systems. In at least one embodiment, such a cooling system can be utilized in a datacenter containing one or more racks or computing servers.

BACKGROUND

Datacenter cooling systems use fans to circulate air through server components. Certain supercomputers or other high capacity computers may use water or other cooling systems instead of air-cooling systems to draw heat away from the server components or racks of the datacenter to an area external to the datacenter. The cooling systems may include a chiller within the datacenter area, which may include area external to the datacenter itself. Further, the area external to the datacenter may include a cooling tower or other external heat exchanger that receives heated coolant from the datacenter and that disperses the heat by forced air or other means to the environment (or an external cooling medium). The cooled coolant is recirculated back into the datacenter. The chiller and the cooling tower together form a chilling facility.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary datacenter cooling system subject to improvements described in at least one embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates server-level features associated with an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit having a pressure control system, according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates rack-level features associated with an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit having a pressure control system, according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates datacenter-level features associated with an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit having a pressure control system, according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates a method associated with a datacenter cooling system of FIGS. 2-4 , according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a distributed system, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary datacenter, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 8 illustrates a client-server network, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 9 illustrates a computer network, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 10A illustrates a networked computer system, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 10B illustrates a networked computer system, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 10C illustrates a networked computer system, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 11 illustrates one or more components of a system environment in which services may be offered as third-party network services, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 12 illustrates a cloud computing environment, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 13 illustrates a set of functional abstraction layers provided by a cloud computing environment, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 14 illustrates a supercomputer at a chip level, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 15 illustrates a supercomputer at a rack module level, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 16 illustrates a supercomputer at a rack level, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 17 illustrates a supercomputer at a whole system level, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 18A illustrates inference and/or training logic, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 18B illustrates inference and/or training logic, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 19 illustrates training and deployment of a neural network, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 20 illustrates an architecture of a system of a network, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 21 illustrates an architecture of a system of a network, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 22 illustrates a control plane protocol stack, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 23 illustrates a user plane protocol stack, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 24 illustrates components of a core network, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 25 illustrates components of a system to support network function virtualization (NFV), in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 26 illustrates a processing system, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 27 illustrates a computer system, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 28 illustrates a system, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 29 illustrates an exemplary integrated circuit, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 30 illustrates a computing system, according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 31 illustrates an APU, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 32 illustrates a CPU, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 33 illustrates an exemplary accelerator integration slice, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIGS. 34A-34B illustrate exemplary graphics processors, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 35A illustrates a graphics core, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 35B illustrates a GPGPU, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 36A illustrates a parallel processor, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 36B illustrates a processing cluster, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 36C illustrates a graphics multiprocessor, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 37 illustrates a software stack of a programming platform, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 38 illustrates a CUDA implementation of a software stack of FIG. 37 , in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 39 illustrates a ROCm implementation of a software stack of FIG. 37 , in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 40 illustrates an OpenCL implementation of a software stack of FIG. 37 , in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 41 illustrates software that is supported by a programming platform, in accordance with at least one embodiment; and

FIG. 42 illustrates compiling code to execute on programming platforms of FIGS. 37-40 , in accordance with at least one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In at least one embodiment, an exemplary datacenter 100 can be utilized as illustrated in FIG. 1 , which has a cooling system subject to improvements described herein. In at least one embodiment, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding, but concepts herein may be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In at least one embodiment, datacenter cooling systems can respond to sudden high heat requirements caused by changing computing-loads in present day computing components. In at least one embodiment, as these requirements are subject to change or tend to range from a minimum to a maximum of different cooling requirements, these requirements must be met in an economical manner, using an appropriate cooling system. In at least one embodiment, for moderate to high cooling requirements, liquid cooling system may be used. In at least one embodiment, high cooling requirements are economically satisfied by localized immersion cooling. In at least one embodiment, these different cooling requirements also reflect different heat features of a datacenter. In at least one embodiment, heat generated from these components, servers, and racks are cumulatively referred to as a heat feature or a cooling requirement as cooling requirement must address a heat feature entirely.

In at least one embodiment, a datacenter liquid cooling system is disclosed. In at least one embodiment, this datacenter cooling system addresses heat features in associated computing or datacenter devices, such as in graphics processing units (GPUs), in switches, in dual inline memory module (DIMMs), or central processing units (CPUs). In at least one embodiment, these components may be referred to herein as high heat density computing components. Furthermore, in at least one embodiment, an associated computing or datacenter device may be a processing card having one or more GPUs, switches, or CPUs thereon. In at least one embodiment, each of GPUs, switches, and CPUs may be a heat generating feature of a computing device. In at least one embodiment, a GPU, a CPU, or a switch may have one or more cores, and each core may be a heat generating feature.

In at least one embodiment, an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit (RDU) herein has a pressure control system. In at least one embodiment, a pressure control system enables a pressure-drop within an in-rack RDU or an associated cooling manifold so that excess pressure of a liquid-phase of a refrigerant may be bled, prior to an expansion valve and prior to entry to a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, an applied pressure-drop may be in response to a lesser cooling requirement for an associated cold plate. In at least one embodiment, a lesser cooling requirement may be when heat dissipated into a cold plate from an associated computing device is low. In at least one embodiment, heat dissipated may be measured as a temperature associated with a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, for low temperature heat dissipation, high pressure of a refrigerant may not be needed. In at least one embodiment, when there may be excess pressure associated with a liquid-phase of a refrigerant, such excess pressure may be bled prior to an expansion valve so that low pressure refrigerant is provided to a cold plate to prevent damage or wear of refrigerant lines.

In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU associated with a pressure control system is in a form-factor of a 1 unit (U)—or 3 units (3 U) of servers of a rack. In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU distributes refrigerant from a secondary refrigerant cooling loop that interfaces with a primary refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, a secondary refrigerant cooling loop circulates through a cold plate to extract heat from at least one computing device. In at least one embodiment, a pressure control system enables an applied pressure-drop to prevent damage to refrigerant lines that may be under high pressure depending on cooling requirements of a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, an applied pressure-drop may occur within an in-rack RDU or an associated cooling manifold so that, when it is determined that a pressure of liquid-phase of a refrigerant exceeds a first threshold and a temperature associated with a cold plate is below a second threshold, then an in-rack RDU can provide less cooling (where refrigerant may be at a lower pressure).

In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU associated with a pressure control system is able to address issues of a datacenter cooling system using only coolants of a primary and of a secondary coolant loops. In at least one embodiment, refrigerant may be limited in a datacenter cooling system due to a complexity in maintaining high pressure lines. In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU associated with a pressure control system provides a pressure control system to cause an applied pressure-drop before an expansion valve based in part on a lower cooling requirement of a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, at a lower cooling requirement, a lower flow rate is enabled to a cold plate via a pressure bleed enabled by a pressure control system associated with one or more flow controllers. In at least one embodiment, such a feature is able to address pressure-related issues that may exist in higher pressure refrigerant lines.

In at least one embodiment, an issue addressed by such features is to enable cold plates that were previously limited to flowing coolant therein, as part of primary and secondary cooling loops, to remove more high-density heat in an efficient manner using refrigerant. In at least one embodiment, higher rates of coolant may have been required to remove high heat from high heat density computing devices. In at least one embodiment, such higher rates of coolant may erode material of a cold plate or cause corrosion within a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, such features enable a pressure control system having at least one processor to manage flow pressures, and therefore, flow rate of refrigerant to address issues where temperatures of refrigerant that are either too hot or too cold can cause damage to plumbing features and to computing devices. In at least one embodiment, high flow rates from high pressure refrigerant may also damage plumbing or cause wear and tear. In at least one embodiment, a pressure control system enables an artificial pressure-drop in a server tray or box forming an in-rack RDU, which in turn manages flow and variation of thermal load absorbed by a refrigerant. In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU may be designed for 2000 watts, but if only 200 watts of heat needs to be removed, at least one flow controller acting as a bleeder value (such as an in-line solenoid valve) may bleed pressure off prior to an expansion valve and a cold plate.

In at least one embodiment, features herein enable a solution that uses an in-rack RDU to interface between refrigerant cooling loops instead of a coolant distribution unit (CDU) interfacing between coolant loops. In at least one embodiment, one or more refrigerant to air heat exchangers (R2AHXs) or refrigerant to refrigerant heat exchangers (R2RHXs) may be associated with a pressure control system, within an in-rack RDU. In at least one embodiment, such an R2RHX may be to interface between a first refrigerant cooling loop and a second refrigerant cooling loop so that refrigerant can be used in all plumbing lines for removal of high amounts of heat while being less corrosive or cause lesser erosion than higher flow rates of coolant otherwise required. In at least one embodiment, such an R2AHX may be to interface between a first refrigerant cooling loop and air cooling for similar reasons as using an R2RHX.

In at least one embodiment, a first refrigerant cooling loop or a second refrigerant cooling loop may include a pumped refrigerant cooling system that is utilized for removing heat in at least one cold plate to an R2RHX or an R2AHX, instead of a secondary cooling loop that uses coolant. In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU and associated pressure control system may include one or more refrigerant pumps, one or more condenser units, one or more refrigerant reservoirs and other refrigeration systems such as filters, strainers, and charging ports. In at least one embodiment, an R2RHX includes plate or gasket-type heat exchangers functioning as condenser units within some of its plates and evaporator units within some of its plates. In at least one embodiment, such features allow for efficient utilization of vapor compression refrigeration in 2-phase evaporators in datacenters without requiring primary side chiller-based cooling system. In at least one embodiment, such features also allow for more efficient and low-power heat removal from a datacenter, allows for refrigeration at an edge location without datacenter infrastructure, and enables removal of heat at much higher densities than either air or liquid cooled systems that may be based on coolant flows.

In at least one embodiment, a second refrigerant used to cool a first refrigerant of a first refrigerant cooling loop may be of a same or similar chemistry as a second refrigerant of a second refrigerant cooling loop or a first refrigerant of a first refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, first refrigerant may be carried within a line or area of an in-rack RDU, but that may be at a higher pressure than required for a low temperature associated with lower heat generated and dissipated into a cold plate, which in turn has a lower cooling requirement.

In at least one embodiment, such issues of a lower cooling requirement, when a first refrigerant is at a higher pressure, may be addressed by a pressure control system to cause reduction in pressure prior to an expansion valve associated with a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, a second condenser unit of a second refrigerant loop may be placed over a server rack or tray and uses one or more flow controllers, such as refrigerant pumps, to enables movement of a second refrigerant to a second condenser unit for dissipation of heat from a cold plate.

In at least one embodiment, such features lower working fluid temperatures through an evaporation of a refrigerant, such as R134a® used in an in-rack RDU. In at least one embodiment, such features allow removal of higher amounts of heat from liquid cooled cold plates without increasing a fluid rates above limits designated for such cold plates, as such increase of flow rates may erode or corrode a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, an OCU (overhead condenser unit) allows for removal of heat of a datacenter without a need for central chiller system having a primary cooling loop, a secondary cooling loop, and one or more coolant distribution units (CDUs). In at least one embodiment, such features allow for utilization of refrigerant cooling loops within edge datacenters, where there may be no coolant-based datacenter cooling systems available.

In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system uses a refrigerant or engineered fluid, such as Novec® 7000, R1234Ze®, R134a®, or some of 3M®'s engineering fluid with a cold plate and a condenser unit for heat removal from at least one computing device. In at least one embodiment, such a cold plate is adapted to support an evaporator section therein. In at least one embodiment, pressure stabilization may be enabled by a pump or other flow controllers for controlling refrigerant and may be within a pressure control system, prior to an expansion valve. In at least one embodiment, a pressure control system is enabled to flow refrigerant at a determined flow rate using a pressure reduction associated with a lower temperature and with a lower cooling requirement. In at least one embodiment, such refrigerant flows between a condenser unit external to a cold plate and an evaporator section of a cold plate.

In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system allows a refrigerant to flow directly to a cold plate adapted for refrigerant and that has at least one evaporator therein. In at least one embodiment, expansion valves associated with at least one cold plate, an R2RHX, or an R2AHX enables a refrigerant through a cold plate to cause phase transformation of a refrigerant and to cause heat to be absorbed from at least one computing device. In at least one embodiment, a pressure control system enables bleeding of pressure by a refrigerant loop from a high-pressure side to a low-pressure side of a condenser unit within an in-rack RDU. In at least one embodiment, a pressure control system may bleed pressure to one or more refrigerant reservoirs within an in-rack RDU, and such refrigerant may be returned to a low-pressure side via a gravity flow to a refrigerant pump that then provides it to a condenser unit for recirculation.

In at least one embodiment, heat from at least one computing device is absorbed into a first refrigerant of a first refrigerant cooling loop, which is then transferred to a first condenser unit using refrigerant pumps, and which interfaces with a second evaporator section different from a cold plate's evaporator section. In at least one embodiment, such a second evaporator section enables transfer of heat to a second refrigerant of a second refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, a second condenser unit of such a second refrigerant cooling loop causes release of at least part of absorbed heat into an ambient environment that may be external to a datacenter. In at least one embodiment, sensors such as temperature, flow, humidity, leak, pressure, and fluid or coolant chemistry allow for intelligent operation of an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system in case of any issues in a secondary or a primary cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, such sensors may provide input to a pressure control system to cause such a system to respond to a cooling requirement by reducing pressure of a refrigerant prior to an expansion valve.

In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system is able to address issues in cold plates that were primarily able to support coolant for cooling purposes. In at least one embodiment, a refrigerant is in a liquid to vapor phase transformation within an evaporator section of a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, a first or a second refrigerant is in a vapor phase when entering a first or a second condenser unit, but in a fluid state when pumped to a respective evaporator section of a cold plate or an R2RHX. In at least one embodiment, varying pressures may be created within such a closed cooling loop of refrigerant cooling loops having refrigerant-adapted cold plates, an R2AHX, and an R2RHX. In at least one embodiment, refrigerant pumps may be available fluid pumping or displacement pumping of vapor.

In at least one embodiment, an exemplary datacenter 100 can be utilized as illustrated in FIG. 1 , which has a cooling system subject to improvements described herein. In at least one embodiment, a datacenter 100 may be one or more rooms 102 having racks 110 and auxiliary equipment to house one or more servers on one or more server trays. In at least one embodiment, a datacenter 100 is supported by a cooling tower 104 located external to a datacenter 100. In at least one embodiment, a cooling tower 104 dissipates heat from within a datacenter 100 by acting on a primary cooling loop 106. In at least one embodiment, a cooling distribution unit (CDU) 112 is used between a primary cooling loop 106 and a second or secondary cooling loop 108 to enable absorption of heat from a second or secondary cooling loop 108 to a primary cooling loop 106. In at least one embodiment, a secondary cooling loop 108 can access various plumbing into a server tray as required, in an aspect. In at least one embodiment, loops 106, 108 are illustrated as line drawings, but a person of ordinary skill would recognize that one or more plumbing features may be used. In at least one embodiment, flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes may be used along with associated plumbing to move fluid along in each provided loop 106; 108. In at least one embodiment, one or more coolant pumps may be used to maintain pressure differences within coolant loops 106, 108 to enable movement of coolant according to temperature sensors in various locations, including in a room, in one or more racks 110, and/or in server boxes or server trays within one or more racks 110.

In at least one embodiment, coolant in a primary cooling loop 106 and in a secondary cooling loop 108 may be at least water and an additive. In at least one embodiment, an additive may be glycol or propylene glycol. In operation, in at least one embodiment, each of a primary and a secondary cooling loops may have their own coolant. In at least one embodiment, coolant in secondary cooling loops may be proprietary to requirements of components in a server tray or in associated racks 110. In at least one embodiment, a CDU 112 is capable of sophisticated control of coolants, independently or concurrently, within provided coolant loops 106, 108. In at least one embodiment, a CDU may be adapted to control flow rate of coolant so that coolant is appropriately distributed to absorbed heat generated within associated racks 110. In at least one embodiment, more flexible tubing 114 is provided from a secondary cooling loop 108 to enter each server tray to provide coolant to electrical and/or computing components therein.

In at least one embodiment, tubing 118 that forms part of a secondary cooling loop 108 may be referred to as room manifolds. Separately, in at least one embodiment, further tubing 116 may extend from row manifold tubing 118 and may also be part of a secondary cooling loop 108 but may be referred to as row manifolds. In at least one embodiment, coolant tubing 114 enters racks as part of a secondary cooling loop 108 but may be referred to as rack cooling manifold within one or more racks. In at least one embodiment, row manifolds 116 extend to all racks along a row in a datacenter 100. In at least one embodiment, plumbing of a secondary cooling loop 108, including coolant manifolds 118, 116, and 114 may be improved by at least one embodiment herein. In at least one embodiment, a chiller 120 may be provided in a primary cooling loop within datacenter 102 to support cooling before a cooling tower. In at least one embodiment, additional cooling loops that may exist in a primary control loop and that provide cooling external to a rack and external to a secondary cooling loop, may be taken together with a primary cooling loop and is distinct from a secondary cooling loop, for this disclosure.

In at least one embodiment, in operation, heat generated within server trays of provided racks 110 may be transferred to a coolant exiting one or more racks 110 via flexible tubing of a row manifold 114 of a second cooling loop 108. In at least one embodiment, second coolant (in a secondary cooling loop 108) from a CDU 112, for cooling provided racks 110, moves towards one or more racks 110 via provided tubing. In at least one embodiment, second coolant from a CDU 112 passes from on one side of a room manifold having tubing 118, to one side of a rack 110 via a row manifold 116, and through one side of a server tray via different tubing 114. In at least one embodiment, spent or returned second coolant (or exiting second coolant carrying heat from computing components) exits out of another side of a server tray (such as enter left side of a rack and exits right side of a rack for a server tray after looping through a server tray or through components on a server tray). In at least one embodiment, spent second coolant that exits a server tray or a rack 110 comes out of different side (such as exiting side) of tubing 114 and moves to a parallel, but also exiting side of a row manifold 116. In at least one embodiment, from a row manifold 116, spent second coolant moves in a parallel portion of a room manifold 118 and is going in an opposite direction than incoming second coolant (which may also be renewed second coolant), and towards a CDU 112.

In at least one embodiment, spent second coolant exchanges its heat with a primary coolant in a primary cooling loop 106 via a CDU 112. In at least one embodiment, spent second coolant may be renewed (such as relatively cooled when compared to a temperature at a spent second coolant stage) and ready to be cycled back to through a second cooling loop 108 to one or more computing components. In at least one embodiment, various flow and temperature control features in a CDU 112 enable control of heat exchanged from spent second coolant or flow of second coolant in and out of a CDU 112. In at least one embodiment, a CDU 112 may be also able to control a flow of primary coolant in primary cooling loop 106.

In at least one embodiment, server-level features 200 as illustrated in FIG. 2 can be associated with an in-rack RDU having a pressure control system for a datacenter cooling system. In at least one embodiment, server-level features 200 include a server tray or box 202. In at least one embodiment, a server tray or box 202 includes a server manifold 204 to be intermediately coupled between provided cold plates 210A-D of a server tray or box 202 and rack manifolds of a rack hosting a server tray or box 202. In at least one embodiment, a server tray or box 202 includes one or more cold plates 210A-D associated with one or more computing or datacenter components or devices 220A-D.

In at least one embodiment, one or more server-level cooling loops 214A, B may be provided between a server manifold 204 and one or more colds plates 210A-D. In at least one embodiment, each server-level cooling loop 214A; B includes an inlet line 210 and an outlet line 212. In at least one embodiment, when there are series configured cold plates 210A, B, an intermediate line 216 may be provided. In at least one embodiment, one or more cold plates 210A-D may support distinct ports and channels for a secondary coolant of a secondary cooling loop or a different fluid, such as a refrigerant, circulated from a pre-loaded R2RHX. In at least one embodiment, secondary coolant for cooling associated computing devices may be provided to a server manifold 204 via provided inlet and outlets 206A, 206B. In at least one embodiment, refrigerant for cooling may be provided to a server manifold 204 via provided inlets and outlets 208A, 208B.

In at least one embodiment, a server tray 202 is an immersive-cooled server tray that may be flooded by fluid. In at least one embodiment, a fluid for an immersive-cooled server tray may be a dielectric engineered fluid capable of being used in an immersive-cooled server. In at least one embodiment, a secondary coolant or refrigerant may be used to cool engineered fluid. In at least one embodiment, a refrigerant may be used to cool engineered fluid when a primary cooling loop associated with a secondary cooling loop circulating a secondary coolant has failed or is failing. In at least one embodiment, at least one cold plate therefore has ports for a secondary cooling loop and for a refrigerant cooling loop and can support a refrigerant cooling loop that is activated in an event of a failure in a primary cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system may be used without a secondary cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, at least one dual-cooling cold plate 210B; 250 may be configured to work alongside regular cold plates 210A, C, D. In at least one embodiment, a three-dimensional (3D) blow-up illustration (cold plate 250) provides internal detail of at least some features that may be included in a dual-cooling cold plate 210B. In at least one embodiment, a tear-through of a first section 250B of a cold plate 250 having microchannels 270 (also 270A) therein illustrates a distinct second section 250A having different microchannels 264. In at least one embodiment, a regular cold plate may have one set of microchannels 264; 270 instead of two sets illustrated. In at least one embodiment, a dual-cooling cold plate 250 has distinct paths 264, 270 (each path also referred to as microchannels) for secondary coolant of a secondary cooling loop and for refrigerant of a refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, secondary coolant or refrigerant may not be dielectric in property. In at least one embodiment, in a use case of an immersive-cooled server, refrigerant that may be a dielectric engineered fluid may be adapted for both, a cold plate application and an immersive-cooled server tray application.

In at least one embodiment, some microchannels 270 are paths provided by fins 270A or other such aspects that are raised internally and perpendicularly to a base of a cold plate section 250B so that there are gaps therebetween for fluid or coolant flow. In at least one embodiment, some microchannels 264 are fluid pathways in a different cold plate section 250A of a cold plate 250. In at least one embodiment, some microchannels 264 for refrigerant represent an evaporation (or evaporator) section for a cold plate 250. In at least one embodiment, a flow controller 280 on an inlet side of a cold plate 250 may act as an expansion valve; and this enables refrigerant to enter a cold plate 250 and to expand under lower pressure, as well as to transform phase during absorption of heat from at least one computing device, before exiting a cold plate 250. In at least one embodiment, reference to a cold plate, along with its dual-cooling features, may imply a reference to a cold plate that can support at least two types of cooling loops, unless otherwise stated. In at least one embodiment, both types of colds plates receive refrigerant for cooling, but one type can support both, a secondary cooling loop and a refrigerant cooling loop (also referred to as a refrigerant loop). In at least one embodiment, a standard coolant, such as facility water may be used in a secondary cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, a refrigerant may only support cold plate usage and may not be available for immersive cooling. In at least one embodiment, each type of cold plate receives different refrigerant and secondary coolant from respective refrigerant cooling loops, or a secondary or other cooling loops interfacing with a primary cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, in situations where different fluids (such as coolants) are used with different coolant distribution units (CDUs) of different secondary loops, then a different cooling loops may be suited for a dual-cooling cold plate, along with a refrigerant cooling loop, so that different channels may be used for each of a refrigerant and for different secondary coolants. In at least one embodiment, any cold plate referenced herein is able to work above a dew point to prevent moisture formation, such as at above 20 degrees Fahrenheit, or above a determined ambient dew point.

In at least one embodiment, a dual-cooling cold plate 250 is adapted to receive a two types of fluids (such as a secondary coolant and a refrigerant) and to keep two types of fluids distinct from each other via their distinct ports 252, 272; 268, 262 and their distinct paths 264, 270, such as by distinct sections separated by gaskets and plates (such as in a gasket type cold plate). In at least one embodiment, each distinct path is a fluid path. In at least one embodiment, fluid (such as a refrigerant) from a refrigerant source and a secondary coolant may be provided simultaneously to address additional cooling requirements.

In at least one embodiment, a dual-cooling cold plate 250 includes ports 252, 272 to receive refrigerant into a cold plate 250 and to pass refrigerant out of a cold plate 250. In at least one embodiment, a dual-cooling cold plate 250 includes ports 268, 262 to receive a secondary coolant into a cold plate 250 and to pass a secondary coolant out of a cold plate 250. In at least one embodiment, ports 252, 272 may have valve covers 254, 260 (or features of an expansion valve) that may be directional, and pressure controlled to enable expansion of refrigerant through a cold plate 250. In at least one embodiment, valve covers may be associated with all provided ports, but expansion valves may be specific to refrigerant inlets. In at least one embodiment, provided valve covers 254, 260 are mechanical features of associated flow controllers that also have corresponding electronic features (such as at least one processor to execute instructions stored in associated memory and to control mechanical features for associated flow controllers).

In at least one embodiment, each valve may be actuated by an electronic feature of an associated flow controller. In at least one embodiment, electronic and mechanical features of provided flow controllers are integrated. In at least one embodiment, electronic and mechanical features of provided flow controllers are physically distinct. In at least one embodiment, reference to flow controllers may be to one or more of provided electronic and mechanical features or to their union but is at least in reference to features enabling control of flow of coolant or refrigerant through each cold plate or an immersion-cooled server tray or box.

In at least one embodiment, electronic features of provided flow controllers receive control signals and assert control over mechanical features. In at least one embodiment, electronic features of provided flow controllers may be actuators or other electronic parts of other similar electromechanical features. In at least one embodiment, flow pumps may be used as flow controllers. In at least one embodiment, impellers, pistons, or bellows may be mechanical features, and an electronic motor and circuitry form electronic features of provided flow controllers.

In at least one embodiment, circuitry of provided flow controllers may include processors, memories, switches, sensors, and other components, altogether forming electronic features of provided flow controllers. In at least one embodiment, provided ports 252, 262, 272, 268 of provided flow controllers are adapted to either allow entry or to allow egress of an immersive fluid. In at least one embodiment, flow controllers 280 (capable of acting as an expansion valve) may be associated with fluid lines 276 (also 256, 274) that enable entry and egress of a refrigerant to a cold plate 210B. In at least one embodiment, other flow controllers may be similarly associated with coolant lines 210, 216, 212 (also 266, 258) to enable entry and egress of a secondary coolant to a cold plate 210B.

In at least one embodiment, higher cooling requirements may require higher flow rate or flow volume of a refrigerant. In at least one embodiment, such cooling requirements may be addressed by a pump or other flow controllers to prevent excessive heat build-up in an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system but may be addressed from other series pumps between a cold plate 210B and a condenser unit external to a cold plate 210B. In at least one embodiment, a size of a pump or other flow controllers may be dictated by a type of a refrigerant used and its thermal properties (such as, minimum temperature in its fluid phase versus maximum temperature in its vapor phase, as well as maximum temperatures of all computing devices associated with such a system). In at least one embodiment, this information may be used to determine a pump or other flow controllers' capacity for a refrigerant in a specific area prior to environmental heat causing it to be ineffective towards removing heat from an associated computing device 220B.

In at least one embodiment, refrigerant enters provided fluid lines 276 via dedicated fluid inlet and outlet lines 208A, B. In at least one embodiment, a server manifold 204 is adapted with channels therein (illustrated by dotted lines) to support distinct paths to distinct fluid lines 276 (also 256, 274) and to any remaining loops 214A, B that are associated with secondary coolant inlet and outlet lines 206A, B. In at least one embodiment, there may be multiple manifolds to support refrigerant and secondary coolant distinctly. In at least one embodiment, there may be multiple manifolds to support entry and egress, distinctly, for each of a refrigerant and a secondary coolant. In at least one embodiment, if a refrigerant is singularly used without a secondary cooling loop, then a fluid flow via one of provided fluid paths (at least within a cold plate or a server tray) may be enabled to a refrigerant source or to a fluid line (such as lines 370A, B, distinct from secondary coolant row manifold 350 in FIG. 3 ).

In at least one embodiment, a first flow may be to enable secondary coolant to flow through one or more provided ports 252, 272 and an associated path 270. In at least one embodiment, a dual-cooling cold plate 250 may have isolated plate sections 250A, 250B that are flooded with a refrigerant and/or a secondary coolant, while being kept distinct from each other by gaskets or seals. In at least one embodiment, a second flow may be to enable refrigerant to flow through provided ports 268, 262, and an associated path 264 through fins or microchannels 270A that are throughout a base of cold plate section 250B.

In at least one embodiment, flow controllers 278 may be associated with a fluid inlet 276 and outlet portions at a server manifold 204 instead of provided flow controllers 280 at respective cold plates. In at least one embodiment, a first flow uses only refrigerant and may be enabled when a failure is determined in a secondary cooling loop or a primary cooling loop, so that a secondary coolant is unable to effectively absorb heat from at least one computing device. In at least one embodiment, a failure may be that a secondary coolant is not sufficiently cooled via a CDU and so it may be unable to absorb sufficient heat of at least one computing device via its associated cold plate.

In at least one embodiment, rack-level features 300 as illustrated in FIG. 3 can be associated with an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit having a pressure control system. In at least one embodiment, rack-level features 300 include a rack 302 having brackets 304, 306 to hang cooling manifolds 314A, B. In at least one embodiment, while a rack 330 is separately illustrated from a rack 302, this rack 330 may be illustrative of a rear perspective view of a rack 302. In at least one embodiment, as such, brackets 334, 336 provided on rack 330 are perspective views of brackets 304, 306 provided on rack 302. In at least one embodiment, brackets 304, 306 provided for a rack are flat structures against an inner wall of a rack. In at least one embodiment, brackets 304, 306 provided for a rack extend from an inner wall of a rack. In at least one embodiment, brackets 304, 306 provided for a rack are affixed to an inner wall of a rack and have multiple mounting points facing one or more directions, including inside or towards a rear of a rack.

In at least one embodiment, cooling manifolds 314A, B may be provided to pass secondary coolant between server-level features 200 (and illustrated in FIG. 3 as server trays or boxes 308, 308A) and a CDU (such as CDU 406 of FIG. 4 ) of a secondary cooling loop of a datacenter cooling system. In at least one embodiment, different CDUs may serve different racks. In at least one embodiment, different rack cooling manifolds may be distinctly part of a secondary cooling loop and a refrigerant cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, row manifold 350 may be part of a secondary cooling loop to feed an inlet rack manifold 314A via provided lines 310A, 310. In at least one embodiment, secondary coolant proceeds via a provided line 316 to cold plate 326 to extract or absorb heat from associated computing device 324 within a server 308; and proceeds via a provided line 318 to outlet rack manifold 314B and through provided lines 312, 312A, and back into a same or a different row manifold 350.

In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system can work independent of a secondary cooling loop and can cool at least one computing device associated with a refrigerant enabled (dual cooling or single cooling) cold plate 326, via provided lines 312B, 310B for a refrigerant cooling loop along with refrigerant cooling lines 370A, B associated with an R2RHX 360 that is at least partly within an in-rack RDU (such as in-rack RDU 424 of FIG. 4 ). In at least one embodiment, an refrigerant-to-air heat exchanger (R2AHX) using condenser unit 362 and one or more fans 364 may provide sufficient cooling for a refrigerant to be distributed from an in-rack RDU.

In at least one embodiment, even though illustrated as separate units above a rack, this is illustrative only, and an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 is substantially within an in-rack RDU, such as in a 1 U to 3 U server tray or box 308A. In at least one embodiment, such an in-rack RDU is a top most server tray or box 308A of a rack, but may be located elsewhere in a rack. In at least one embodiment, if an R2RHX is used, at least a second condenser unit 374 may be associated with such an R2RHX 360, and such a second condenser unit 374 may be external to an in-rack RDU to dissipate heat to an ambient environment. In at least one embodiment, if an R2AHX 360 is used, there is no further second condenser unit and air from one or more fans 364 is sufficient to dissipate heat to from an in-rack RDU to an ambient environment. In at least one embodiment, provided lines 312B, 310B for a refrigerant are coupled to independent cold plates via direct lines 320, 354, 322, and via one or more flow controllers 368. In at least one embodiment, a pump or other flow controllers 368 for controlling flow of refrigerant, by acting as an expansion valve, may be provided on an entry side to a cold plate 326.

In at least one embodiment, other such pumps or other flow controllers may include a further function as a bleeder valve to enable pressure stabilization as part of a pressure control system. In at least one embodiment, such a pump or other flow controller 368A may be located before an expansion valve associated with a cold plate, such as illustrated and described in reference to in FIG. 2 . In at least one embodiment, such an expansion valve may be within an in-rack RDU 308A, such as enabled via a pump or flow controller 368A functioning as an expansion valve. In at least one embodiment, pressure stabilization may be also represented by stable pressure of a refrigerant that is enabled to flow between a first condenser unit 362 (of an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360), which is external to a cold plate 326 but within an in-rack RDU 308A, and its evaporator or evaporator section (such as, enabled by channels 264 in FIG. 2 ). In at least one embodiment, a reservoir or other pressure dissipation feature 368B may be coupled to a bleeder valve 368A to enable pressure bleed from a high-pressure side to a low-pressure side of a condenser unit 362. In at least one embodiment, a pump or other flow controller 368C may then enable released refrigerant to flow from such a reservoir or other pressure dissipation feature 368B into a condenser unit 362 having heat exchange pipes 366 therein.

In at least one embodiment, one or more diverter flow controllers 310C, 312C isolate each of a secondary cooling loop and a refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, one or more diverter flow controllers have a downstream expansion valve to provide refrigerant with expansion features for efficient heat absorption at appropriate pressures. In at least one embodiment, a first refrigerant may be used with at least one cold plate 326 and with an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 of an in-rack RDU 308A, with such an R2RHX 360 having a first condenser unit 364 and a second evaporator section 372.

In at least one embodiment, one or more fans 364 may be associated with lines or gasket plates 364 of a first condenser unit 362 to enable efficient heat transfer from a first refrigerant to a second refrigerant. In at least one embodiment, there are no fans 364, but a first condenser unit 364 and a second evaporator section 372 may interface via a gasket heat exchanger where heat from a first refrigerant is transferred to a second refrigerant via conduction between gasket plates separating such refrigerants. In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU 308 may provide refrigerant for cooling to racks 308 of a rack 302 (or of other racks) via direct lines, via a manifold 314A, B which may have channels for refrigerant flow distinct from coolant flow, or via other refrigerant-specific manifolds 370A, B.

In at least one embodiment, therefore, a datacenter cooling system has an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit (RDU) 308A to distribute refrigerant to one or more colds plates. In at least one embodiment, such an in-rack RDU 308A may have an associated pressure control system (such as reference number 438 in FIG. 4 ). In at least one embodiment, such a pressure control system may have associated flow controllers or pumps 368A, to function as a bleeder valve, and a reservoir or other pressure dissipation feature 368B to enable a pressure-drop before an expansion valve 368 for a liquid-phase of a refrigerant based in part on a first pressure of a liquid-phase of a refrigerant exceeding a first threshold and based in part on a temperature associated with one or more cold plates being below a second threshold.

In at least one embodiment, therefore, an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 of an in-rack RDU 308A enables radiant, conduction, and convection for heat transfer, of heat extracted using a cold plate having a first evaporator section, from a first condenser unit 362 of a first refrigerant cooling loop to an ambient environment or to a second evaporator section 372 of a second refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, such heat imparted to a refrigerant of a second evaporator section 372 may be passed via one of provided lines 376 to a second condenser unit 374 for dissipation to an ambient environment. In at least one embodiment, provided lines 320, 322, 354 of a rack 302 may be associated with a refrigerant of a first refrigerant cooling loop that may be different than a refrigerant of a second refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, such provided lines may be associated with an inlet 310B and an outlet 312B to engage with an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 and with associated lines 370A, B as well as associated components 360-380.

In at least one embodiment, a datacenter cooling system includes an R2RHX 360 that is partly within an in-rack RDU 308A and that is associated with a fan 364 and a condenser unit 362, which may have one or more refrigerant pumps or compressors for a refrigeration cycle. In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system includes heat exchange pipes or gasket plates. In at least one embodiment, sections, parts, or components 360-380 of an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system may be integrated together into a singular unit. In at least one embodiment, sections, parts, or components 360-380 of such a system may be integrated between racks and may be associated with a rack at bracket areas provided on a rack 330 or via its brackets 334, 336. In at least one embodiment, such integration uses a pump or other flow controllers to offer flow stabilization of a refrigerant at an outlet of such an integrated system between provided racks. In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU 308A is able to distribute first refrigerant to one or more servers of one or more racks which controlling pressure of such first refrigerant using its pressure control system and using cooling requirements associated with temperature from one or more cold plates, computing devices, or areas within such one or more servers or one or more racks.

In at least one embodiment, heat exchange pipes in a second evaporator section 372 circulates distinct refrigerant (such as, a second refrigerant) than in a first condenser section 362. In at least one embodiment, such a feature enables circulation of a first refrigerant entering through one of provided flow controllers 368 and exiting through another one of such provided flow controllers 368. In at least one embodiment, on such an exit side from a first condenser unit 362, a pump or other flow controllers may be provided for flow stabilization and to prevent excessive vaporization of refrigerant. In at least one embodiment, a pump or other flow controllers may be used when sudden demands are placed on a first refrigerant cooling loop that may be a closed loop. In at least one embodiment, such a pump pumps first refrigerant that collects to a refrigerant reservoir or other pressure dissipation feature 368B. In at least one embodiment, refrigerant of an in-rack RDU may be required to immediately address a high cooling requirement. In at least one embodiment, such refrigerant may be provided by a pump or other flow controllers for controlling refrigerant flow without straining a closed loop of a first refrigerant cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, such straining is with respect to insufficient refrigerant in fluid form and excess vaporization of refrigerant that may be required to handle lower or higher fluid flow therethrough. In at least one embodiment, heat exchange pipes in a second evaporator section 372 enables air to circulate for cooling of an R2RHX 360 within an integrated or separated feature of an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system (RDU, such as reference numeral 424 of FIG. 4 ). In at least one embodiment, one or more refrigerant or displacement pumps 378, 380 enable circulation of second refrigerant of a second refrigerant cooling loop that interfaces with a first refrigerant cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 of an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system is part of or incorporated within a rack 302 (or 330). In at least one embodiment, a separate facility or primary lines provide refrigerant between one or more R2RHX 360 and one or more racks 302. In at least one embodiment, an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 includes channels instead of pipes to pass refrigerant for cooling of refrigerant or dissipation of retained heat therein. In at least one embodiment, a datacenter cooling system is able to address a first cooling requirement of a rack 330 (or 302), in a first mode, by an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 of a rack 330 (and its supporting infrastructure—such as, two-phase capable cold plate and compressor or pump 378, 380).

In at least one embodiment, in a first mode, an R2RHX 360 may be used to dissipate heat from a second refrigerant of a second refrigerant cooling loop via circulating air from a fan through a second condenser unit 374. In at least one embodiment, a second refrigerant cooling loop (such as refrigerant cooling loop 434 in FIG. 4 ) may be used to remove heat from an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 and to dissipate such heat external to a datacenter using its own second condenser unit (434B in FIG. 4 ) or using air alone. In at least one embodiment, a datacenter cooling system is able to address a second cooling requirement of a rack 330 (or 302) in a second mode by a secondary cooling loop interfacing with a CDU, a primary coolant, and a chilling facility. In at least one embodiment, for high density computing components both modes are in operation for any cooling requirement determined for a rack. In at least one embodiment, flow of refrigerant occurs by default in one or more refrigerant cooling loops, but may be enabled further via provided refrigerant pumps 378, 380 or even compressors. In at least one embodiment, a compressor may be associated with a first condenser unit 362 and may be located within an in-rack RDU 308A.

In at least one embodiment, a first cooling requirement and a second cooling requirement may pertain to different heat features of a datacenter. In at least one embodiment, a first cooling requirement may be associated with heat generated from one or more computing devices that may be addressed by a refrigerant for addressing such a first cooling requirement. In at least one embodiment, a second cooling requirement may be also associated with heat generated from one or more computing devices by being retained within a refrigerant and/or a secondary coolant, via a cold plate, for instance, and that may need dissipation by one or more of a R2RHX and/or by a primary coolant via a CDU. In at least one embodiment, an amount of heat generated, absorbed, extracted, or retained may be a temperature value that needs to be below an operating value or an operating range; or that needs to be maintained at an operating value or range (such as, of at least one computing device).

In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may be provided to determine a temperature associated with a computing device 324 in a rack 330 (or 302). In at least one embodiment, at least one processor is able to cause a datacenter cooling system to operate in a first mode or a second mode based at least in part on a temperature associated with or determined from a computing device 324. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor can enable a first mode of a datacenter cooling system to provide cooling using an R2RHX. In at least one embodiment, such at least one processor can enable a second mode of a datacenter cooling system to provide cooling using a coolant.

In at least one embodiment, an immersive-cooled server 352 within a rack 302 (or 330) may have its cooling requirements addressed concurrently with an air-cooled, coolant-cooled, or refrigerant-cooled server 308 within a rack 302 (or 330). In at least one embodiment, an immersive-cooled server 352 may include a dielectric engineered fluid surrounding a computing device. In at least one embodiment, an immersive-cooled server 352 may include a second heat exchanger to exchange heat between a dielectric engineered fluid and refrigerant to be circulated in a R2RHX 360.

In at least one embodiment, at least one server tray or box 308A may be designated for including a control system within an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system so that, if a refrigerant is used, such a system may be isolated from a secondary cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, a control system in a server tray or box 308A may include safety features (such as sensors to provide sensor data or proper function), communication features (to communicate with at least one flow controller for an active mode and to communicate to an external monitor), power features to power one or more flow controllers and at least one processor (and its related features), and control features offered by at least one processor that may be associated with at least one flow controller.

In at least one embodiment, a cold plate 326 may be associated with a computing device 324. In at least one embodiment, a cold plate may have first ports for a first portion of microchannels to support a secondary coolant distinctly from a second portion of microchannels that support a refrigerant of a condenser unit 362. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may be adapted to receive sensor inputs from sensors associated with a computing device 324. In at least one embodiment, sensors may also be associated with one or more of a rack, a secondary coolant, or a refrigerant. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may be adapted to determine a first cooling requirement and a second cooling requirement based in part on sensor inputs. In at least one embodiment, sensor inputs may be temperature sensed at one or more time intervals from sensors as described. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor can enable a refrigerant cooling loop to provide cooling for at least one computing device, which is supported by a condenser unit and by pressure stabilization using a pump or other flow controllers functioning as a bleeder valve.

In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks are adapted to receive sensor inputs from provided sensors and are adapted to infer a first cooling requirement and a second cooling requirement for a datacenter cooling system, such as for a refrigerant cooling loop of a datacenter cooling system. In at least one embodiment, flow controllers of such a refrigerant cooling loop enables flow of a refrigerant therein. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may cause at least one flow controller to enable flow of a refrigerant through an R2RHX and may be adapted to prevent flow of secondary coolant to a secondary cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, one or more diverter flow controllers 310C, 312C may be enabled to cause such flow and prevention of flow of a refrigerant and of a secondary coolant. In at least one embodiment, provided lines 310B, 312B may be provided to fluidly couple with inlet line and outlet line 370A, B of a R2RHX 360. In at least one embodiment, further flow controllers 368 may be enabled to prevent or cause flow of a refrigerant through an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360.

In at least one embodiment, at least one processor can determine a temperature associated with one or more cold plate. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor can enable one or more flow controllers to cause refrigerant to flow through a pressure control system to reach a second pressure that is below a first threshold. In at least one embodiment, if cooling requirement associated with a temperature of a refrigerant is low, then lesser cooling is required and a pressure of such a refrigerant may be bled so that it flows at a lower flow rates, under lesser pressure, through a cold plate.

In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may be associated with an in-rack RDU to receive sensor inputs from sensors associated with at least one computing device. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor can enable a first refrigerant cooling loop or a second refrigerant cooling loop to provide cooling using one or more cold plates for at least one computing device. In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks of at least one processor can receive sensor inputs and can infer a cooling requirement for a first refrigerant cooling loop or a second refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, a cooling requirement may be in response to a temperature associated with one or more cold plates, as sensed by a sensor. In at least one embodiment, a cooling requirement may be to provide cooling with lesser pressure from a first refrigerant cooling loop and to enable a second refrigerant cooling loop to interface with a first refrigerant cooling loop so that heat may be transferred out from an in-rack RDU.

In at least one embodiment, a refrigerant is cooler on a side exiting a condenser unit 364. In at least one embodiment, such a cooler refrigerant has a higher density and can be pumped by a refrigerant pump 368 that functions as a flow controller to drive coolant at a flow rate or volume to at least one cold plate 326 either directly using inlet lines 320A, 320 and outlet lines 354, 322, 322A, or indirectly via a manifold 314A, 314B, which may be used solely for refrigerant or may have separated channels therein for refrigerant and coolant. In at least one embodiment, reduced density refrigerant is caused by heat absorbed from a computing device 324 and transmitted through an associated cold plate 326. In at least one embodiment, such heat makes a refrigerant more buoyant relative to its fluid phase. In at least one embodiment, such reduced density may result in vaporization of a refrigerant and a displacement pump may provide movement for such refrigerant in its vapor phase.

In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may cause flow of a refrigerant when cooling within an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 in a first mode, differently than secondary cooling loop-based cooling in an assisted-cooling mode that uses both a secondary coolant and a refrigerant. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may cause one or more flow controllers 368 to control a refrigerant when cooling within an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 in a second mode that may be more demanding (such as a higher cooling requirement) than a first mode having lesser cooling requirements. In at least one embodiment, one or more flow controllers 368 may enable more or less of refrigerant to flow therethrough without any back-pressure in a closed system. In at least one embodiment, electrical coupling may be provided to power at least one component of a flow controller. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may be adapted to receive sensor inputs from sensors associated with at least one computing device, such as computing device 324. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may determine a change in a coolant state based in part on sensor inputs. In at least one embodiment, a coolant state may relate to a temperature of coolant (or refrigerant), a flow rate, a flow volume, or status (such as flowing or not).

In at least one embodiment, a coolant state may be sensed from an egress or an entry to one or more of a cold plate, a rack, or a cooling manifold. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor can cause a datacenter cooling system to operate in a first mode, in an assisted-cooling mode, or a second mode based in part on a change determined for a coolant state. In at least one embodiment, when it is determined that coolant temperatures at an egress from a cold plate are not beyond a threshold (implying that not much heat is being generated by an associated computing device), a first mode may be enabled for a refrigerant to flow through an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 and an appropriate cold plate. In at least one embodiment, this enables economical use of a datacenter cooling system to provide cooling from one or more of a secondary cooling loop or an in-rack RDU 308A.

In at least one embodiment, when temperature at a hot aisle of a rack, at a vicinity of a computing device, or of a fluid (secondary coolant or local coolant) is determined to be beyond a threshold (implying that more heat is being generated by an associated computing device than can be handled by forced air alone), a second or even an assisted-cooling mode for a datacenter cooling system may be enabled to use more refrigerant, a higher flow rate of a refrigerant, a higher pressure of a refrigerant, or an assist from a secondary cooling loop to provide cooling for a computing device. In at least one embodiment, an assisted-cooling mode engages or enables a secondary cooling loop in addition to a first mode or second mode already provided to cool at least one computing device via an in-rack RDU 308A having refrigerant circulating from a cold plate associated with at least one computing device to provide further cooling than provided by a secondary cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU 308A is interfaced or associated with at least one cold plate to absorb heat from at least one computing device using a first refrigerant as part of a first refrigerant cooling loop and to dissipate such heat within an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360 to an ambient environment or to a second refrigerant of a second refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, an R2RHX 360 is further interfaced or associated with a second condenser unit 374 to dissipate heat from a second refrigerant to an ambient environment. In at least one embodiment, refrigerant pumps and/or displacement pump 378, 380 may be used to assist in second refrigerant flow. In at least one embodiment, a second condenser unit 374 can cause dissipation of at least part of a heat from a refrigerant to an area external to or within a datacenter, such as a hot aisle of a datacenter. In at least one embodiment, a second condenser unit may have associated flow controllers (such as valves and micro pumps) and lines 376 prior to association or interfacing with heat exchange pipes of an R2AHX or an R2RHX 360.

In at least one embodiment, datacenter-level features 400 as illustrated in FIG. 4 can be associated with an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit having a pressure control system. In at least one embodiment, datacenter-level features 400, within a datacenter 402, may include racks 404 for hosting one or more server trays or boxes; one or more CDUs 406 for exchanging heat between a secondary cooling loop 412 and a primary cooling loop 422; one or more row manifolds 410 for distributing coolant from a CDU 406; and associated various flow controllers 420, and inlet and outlet lines 412, 414, 416, 418.

In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU 424 with pressure control system 438 is provided in association with each of provided racks 404 in a datacenter 402. In at least one embodiment, an area above racks 404 is an area for hosting a second condenser unit to discharge heat associated with an R2RHX (together illustrated as unit 432), from at least one computing device in at least one serer tray or box 404A of at least one rack 404 during a first mode of operation of a datacenter cooling system. In at least one embodiment, a first and a second condenser units are associated with an R2AHX or R2RHX 432 that is located within an in-rack RDU 424. In at least one embodiment, an R2RHX 432 enables transfer of heat from a first refrigerant cooling loop to a second refrigerant cooling loop, and subsequently removal of heat from at least one cold plate to a second condenser unit external to a cold plate.

In at least one embodiment, a first refrigerant cooling loop is between one or more cold plates and one or more first condenser units 432A, B that may terminate within one or more R2AHX or R2RHX 432 of one or more in-rack RDUs 424. In at least one embodiment, a second refrigerant cooling loop 434 may be associated with a first refrigerant cooling loop within such an in-rack RDU 424. In at least one embodiment, such a second refrigerant cooling loop is supported by one or more second evaporator sections 434A that are located within one or more R2RHX 432 of an in-rack RDU 424. In at least one embodiment, second refrigerant within such one or more second evaporator sections 424A is enabled to absorb heat from first condenser units 432A-N and to dissipate such heat via one or more second condenser units 434B.

In at least one embodiment, flow controllers 432C such as refrigerant pumps or flow valves may be provided in association with a first condenser unit(s) 432A-N (of associated heat exchangers 432) and associated first evaporator sections of cold plates within racks 404. In at least one embodiment, a second evaporator section 434A may be within such an R2RHX 432 434 to extract heat dissipated from a first condenser unit 432A; B. In at least one embodiment, a second condenser unit 434B is able to dissipate heat extracted from such a first condenser unit(s) 432A-N by a same or different refrigerant than in a first refrigerant cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, one or more pumps or other flow controllers 436 for controlling a pressure of a refrigerant may be provided in association with (such as, within) an in-rack RDU 424. In at least one embodiment, flow rate or flow volume of refrigerant may be provided, also, for flow stabilization of refrigerant (along with such pressure stabilization) for each associated refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, different condenser units 432A-N may be provided for each R2RHX 432 within one or more in-rack RDUs 424, but there may be multiple such R2RHXs associated with a single external condensing unit 432B or a single second refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, multiple first refrigerant cooling loops therefore terminate in an area allowing different first condensing units to impart or dissipate heat to a second evaporator section within a combined R2RHX 432 of one or more RDUs 424 for such multiple first refrigerant cooling loops and a single second refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, multiple first refrigerant cooling loops may interface via multiple R2RHXs and multiple second refrigerant cooling loops.

In at least one embodiment, different racks 404 of a datacenter cooling system may cooperatively have an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system for liquid cooling. In at least one embodiment, such a configuration may require multiple first refrigerant cooling loops to interface with a single second refrigerant cooling loop via a single R2RHX. In at least one embodiment, an in-rack RDU 424 may have may include one or more refrigerant pumps 436, one or more condenser units 432A-N, one or more refrigerant reservoirs, and other refrigeration systems such as filters, strainers, and charging ports.

In at least one embodiment, different row manifolds 410A, B may be associated with different racks for coolant or refrigerant purposes. In at least one embodiment, different coolant may be a chemical match or mismatch with respect to a secondary coolant. In at least one embodiment, different fluid sources are provided as redundant features to different CDUs depending on chemistries of different secondary coolant used with each of different provided CDUs. In at least one embodiment, there need not be a secondary cooling loop and CDU for one or more racks 404, and instead, an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system within an in-rack RDU may be sufficient to provide cooling for a rack 404. In at least one embodiment, these racks not associated with a secondary cooling loop may be sufficiently addressed by one or more in-rack RDUs with pressure control systems.

In at least one embodiment, FIG. 4 illustrates that there may be a bypass line and a direct line from a flow controller 436 of an in-rack RDU 424. In at least one embodiment, a bypass line from an R2AHX or R2RHX 432 of an in-rack RDU 424 to one or more cold plates or to a manifold is so that refrigerant may be provided at a default pressure by circumventing a pressure control system 438. In at least one embodiment, a direct line through a pressure control system 438 may be provided from R2AHX or R2RHX 432 to one or more cold plates or to a manifold. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may be used with distinct or a bypass flow controller to engage a bypass or a direct line depending on a temperature of at least one cold plate or a computing device (and an associated cooling requirement). In at least one embodiment, a default pressure of refrigerant flows via a bypass line to an expansion valve. In at least one embodiment, a pressure reduced flow of refrigerant may be enabled by a direct line to an expansion valve.

In at least one embodiment, a rack 404 may be associated with at least one processor for operating an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system. In at least one embodiment, a processor may include one or more circuits. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits of a processor may be adapted to determine cooling requirements for a datacenter cooling system. In at least one embodiment, a processor may cause a first mode or a second mode of operation for a datacenter cooling system to address a first cooling requirement and a second cooling requirement by an in-rack RDU that causes R2AHX or R2RHX to exchange heat between a first refrigerant from a cold plate and a second refrigerant of a second condenser unit or between such a first refrigerant and air of an ambient environment.

In at least one embodiment, such an operation may be independent of a secondary coolant and of a primary coolant from a chilling facility 408. In at least one embodiment, a processor may cause an assisted-cooling mode of operation for a datacenter cooling system to address a further cooling requirement (than a first or a second cooling requirement addressed by a refrigerant) by a secondary cooling loop having a row manifold 410A, flow controllers 416, 418, and a CDU 406 that is, in turn, coupled to a primary cooling loop 422 having a chilling facility 408. In at least one embodiment, distinct from a row manifold 410A, a refrigerant manifold 410B distributes first refrigerant of a first refrigerant cooling loop to one or more cold plates. In at least one embodiment, further refrigerant manifolds, such as within a rack or a server may interface with a row refrigerant manifold 410B. In at least one embodiment, such a row refrigerant manifold 410B may directly provide first refrigerant to a cold plate of a server within a rack. In at least one embodiment, each line providing refrigerant from an in-rack RDU may be coupled to a pressure control system that may include at least a bleeder valve to cause reduction in pressure depending on a cooling requirement (and therefore a temperature) associated with a cold plate or a computing device.

In at least one embodiment, a refrigerant cooling loop may be more economical than a secondary cooling loop, but a secondary cooling loop may address higher cooling requirements than a refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, a refrigerant operating at lower pressure to address low temperatures of heat generated also enables lesser pressure in a refrigerant system, thereby leading to less wear on such a system. In at least one embodiment, all modes of cooling are caused to occur concurrently for provided racks 404. In at least one embodiment, a gasket or pipe heat exchanger may be used as a cold plate to support a secondary coolant and a refrigerant distinctly.

In at least one embodiment, a processor used with an in-rack RDU having a pressure control system includes an output to provide signals for one or more flow controllers 436, 412, 420. In at least one embodiment, one or more flow controllers 436, 412, 420 may enable flow of refrigerant through an R2AHX or R2RHX 432 of an in-rack RDU and may prevent flow of secondary coolant to a secondary cooling loop in a mode of a datacenter cooling system so that an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system provides a singular source of cooling in a rack. In at least one embodiment, this feature enables use of an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system in isolation without a secondary cooling loop, a primary cooling loop, a CDU, and associated chilling towers. In at least one embodiment, such cooling may be provided for a period of time till any issue in a primary cooling loop has be addressed. In at least one embodiment, such cooling may be of a capacity defined by a downtime in a service level agreement (SLA).

In at least one embodiment, a processor used with an in-rack RDU having a pressure control system includes an input to receive sensor inputs from sensors associated with at least one computing device of a rack 404. In at least one embodiment, sensors may be concurrently or separately associated with a rack, a secondary coolant, or a refrigerant from an associated cold plate of a rack. In at least one embodiment, a processor may determine a first cooling requirement and a second cooling requirement based in part on sensor inputs from these associated sensors. In at least one embodiment, based in part on sensor inputs from these associated sensors, flow rate may be adjusted for one or more of a primary coolant, a secondary coolant, or a refrigerant through a cold plate (or for a secondary coolant), through a CDU (for a primary coolant), or through an R2AHX or R2RHX 432 and an adapted cold plate (for a refrigerant).

In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks may be provided within at least one processor to receive sensor inputs and to infer a first cooling requirement and a second cooling requirement from computing devices or aspects of a datacenter cooling system. In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks may infer a failure of a secondary cooling loop or a primary cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, based in part on sensor inputs associated with pressures, flow rates, flow volumes, temperature, humidity, and leaks, one or more circuits of a processor may cause one or more flow controllers to support first, second, or assisted-cooling modes of cooling. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor associated with an in-rack RDU can cause one or more flow controllers to enable two or more of: a first refrigerant cooling loop to provide refrigerant, a second refrigerant cooling loop to interface with a first refrigerant cooling loop within an in-rack RDU, or prevent flow of a secondary coolant to a secondary cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, a processor used with a rack 404 and an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system includes one or more circuits. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits of a processor may cause a first mode, a second mode, or an assisted-cooling of different modes of operation for a datacenter cooling system. In at least one embodiment, causing a first mode, a second mode, or an assisted-cooling mode is in reference to causing a datacenter cooling system to operate in a first mode, a second mode, or an assisted-cooling mode.

In at least one embodiment, a datacenter cooling system includes an R2AHX or R2RHX 432 within an in-rack RDU having a pressure control system for a refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits of a processor may be provided to train one or more neural networks to infer cooling requirements from sensor inputs of sensors associated with a rack, a computing device, a secondary coolant, or with a refrigerant from at least one cold plate of a rack. In at least one embodiment, these may be cooling requirements for one or more refrigerant cooling loops. In at least one embodiment, a processor may cause a cold plate to provide cooling for a computing device using an evaporator section within a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, a first refrigerant cooling loop may provide cooling at a default flow rate, but a processor may cause cooling by enabling additional flow therethrough of a refrigerant using such flow controllers.

In at least one embodiment, such cooling may be to remove heat from a computing device by a refrigerant flowing through an evaporator section within a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, as a refrigerant absorbs or removes heats from a computing device, it changes to a vapor phase along with pressure changes there. In at least one embodiment, an evaporator section may be associated with a pumps to perform pressure stabilization prior to a refrigerant entering a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, such refrigerant is a first refrigerant that is distinct from a second refrigerant to extract heat from or absorb heat from a first refrigerant. In at least one embodiment, pressure stabilization may be so that refrigerant is always enabled to flow between a condenser unit that is located external to a cold plate, in an R2RHX, and an evaporator even if heat generation decreases and cooling requirement decreases consequently. In at least one embodiment, a first or a second refrigerant cooling loop is always in operation under a default flow rate or flow volume. In at least one embodiment, enabling flow or enabling a first or a second refrigerant cooling loop is in reference to changing a default flow rate or flow volume from a default flow rate or flow volume of a flow or within a first or a second refrigerant cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, an output of a processor used with an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system may be adapted to provide signals for one or more flow controllers. In at least one embodiment, this enables flow of refrigerant from an in-rack RDU at a lower pressure than a default pressure. In at least one embodiment, such an output may also enable prevention of flow of secondary coolant to a secondary cooling loop in a first or a second mode of a datacenter cooling system.

In at least one embodiment, such an output may be to control flow rate of refrigerant from refrigerant reservoir of an in-rack RDU. In at least one embodiment, a secondary cooling loop is not used with such an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system; however, when used, then it is possible to use at least one diversion flow controller to cause refrigerant to flow between a cold plate and an R2AHX or R2RHX 432, or to cause secondary coolant to flow between a cold plate and a CDU, for concurrent or separate use with an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system. In at least one embodiment, one or more flow controller may be controlled by such an output to support different flow rates of a refrigerant therethrough.

In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks of a processor may be adapted to receive sensor inputs. In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks may be trained to infer a first cooling requirement and a second cooling requirement as part of an analysis of prior sensor inputs and prior cooling requirements. In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks may be trained with correlated data of prior sensor inputs and prior cooling requirements so that new sensor inputs within thresholds of prior sensor inputs may be correlated to prior cooling requirements or variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, an output of a processor used with an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system may be adapted to provide signals to cause one or more flow controllers to be adjusted in a first mode or a second mode so that refrigerant flow occurs in a first mode or in a second mode, different than secondary coolant flow that occurs in an assisted-cooling mode. In at least one embodiment, refrigerant flow or volume may be increased or decreased to an R2RHX depending on which mode is active.

In at least one embodiment, an input of a processor used with an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system is adapted to receive sensor inputs associated with a temperature from at least one computing device, from secondary coolant, or from refrigerant exiting a cold plate. In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks of a processor may be trained to infer that a change in coolant state has occurred based in part on a temperature and on prior temperatures of at least one computing device, secondary coolant, or refrigerant. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits of a processor may be adapted to cause a first mode, a second mode, or an assisted-cooling mode of operation for a datacenter cooling system. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits can enable or disable a refrigerant cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, a processor to be used with an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system includes one or more circuits to cause a first mode, a second mode, or an assisted-cooling mode of operation for a datacenter cooling system. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits or a processor is to include one or more neural networks to infer cooling requirements from sensor inputs of sensors associated with a rack 404 or with secondary coolant or refrigerant from at least one cold plate. In at least one embodiment, a processor may be adapted to cause a first mode or second mode to address a first or a second cooling requirement by enabling refrigerant flow through a refrigerant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger in one or more flow rates. In at least one embodiment, a processor may be adapted to also cause an assisted-cooling mode to address a further cooling requirement by a secondary cooling loop and a CDU to cool fluid circulating from a cold plate.

In at least one embodiment, a processor has one or more circuits, which are adapted to determine that a pressure of a liquid-phase of a refrigerant exceeds a first threshold, and which are adapted to determine that a temperature associated with one or more cold plates is below a second threshold. In at least one embodiment, a processor can enable a pressure control system of an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit (RDU) to cause a response to a temperature and to cause a pressure-drop, before an expansion valve, for a liquid-phase of a refrigerant.

In at least one embodiment, a processor as such includes an output to provide signals for one or more flow controllers to enable a first refrigerant cooling loop to provide such a refrigerant that may be pressure stabilized or controlled, but can also enable a second refrigerant cooling loop to interface with a first refrigerant cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, a processor as such can include an input to receive sensor inputs from sensors associated with at least one computing device or with one or more cold plates. In at least one embodiment, a processor can determine a first cooling requirement associated with a refrigerant of a first refrigerant cooling loop or with a refrigerant or a different refrigerant of a second refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, a processor can determine a second cooling requirement associated with a secondary cooling loop, where a secondary cooling loop is associated with a primary cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, this at least enables adjustment to a pressure of a first refrigerant through a cold plate using input of a temperature of a second refrigerant that interfaces at an in-rack RDU with a first refrigerant.

In at least one embodiment, a processor as such includes one or more neural networks to receive sensor inputs and to infer a first cooling requirement and a second cooling requirement. In at least one embodiment, a processor as such has one or more neural networks to infer a failure of a secondary cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits can cause one or more flow controllers to activate a first refrigerant cooling loop to provide a refrigerant for a cold plate.

In at least one embodiment, each of at least one processor described throughout FIGS. 1-4 has inference and/or training logic 1815 that may include, without limitation, code and/or data storage 1801 to store forward and/or output weight and/or input/output data, and/or other parameters to configure neurons or layers of a neural network trained and/or used for inferencing in aspects of one or more embodiments. In at least one embodiment, training logic 1815 may include, or be coupled to code and/or data storage 1801 to store graph code or other software to control timing and/or order, in which weight and/or other parameter information may be to be loaded to configure, logic, including integer and/or floating point units (collectively, arithmetic logic units (ALUs). In at least one embodiment, code, such as graph code, loads weight or other parameter information into processor ALUs based on an architecture of a neural network to which such code corresponds. In at least one embodiment, code and/or data storage 1801 stores weight parameters and/or input/output data of each layer of a neural network trained or used in conjunction with one or more embodiments during forward propagation of input/output data and/or weight parameters during training and/or inferencing using aspects of one or more embodiments. In at least one embodiment, any portion of code and/or data storage 1801 may be included with other on-chip or off-chip data storage, including a processor's L1, L2, or L3 cache or system memory.

In at least one embodiment, an inference and/or training logic 1815 of at least one processor may be part of a building management system (BMS) for controlling flow controllers at one or more of a server-level, a rack-level, and a row-level. In at least one embodiment, a determination to engage a flow controller associated with a secondary cooling loop, an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system, an in-rack RDU, a CDU, cold plates, or other cooling manifolds may be provided to one or more neural networks of an inference and/or training logic 1815 to cause one or more neural networks to infer which flow controllers to gracefully engage or disengage for coolant requirements for one or more cold plates, servers, racks from either an R2AHX or R2RHX 432, or a secondary cooling loop of a datacenter cooling system. In at least one embodiment, increase or decrease of pressure from an in-rack RDU may be enabled by flow controllers that are controlled by an inference and/or training logic 1815 of at least one processor associated with control logic that may be, in turn, associated with a local cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may be associated with a local cooling loop and with a secondary cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may be associated with an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor includes control logic, such as inference and/or training logic 1815 and is associated with at least one flow controller. In at least one embodiment, at least one flow controller may have their own respective processor or micro controller. In at least one embodiment, a processor or a micro controller performs instructions sent to it from a control logic. In at least one embodiment, a control logic may be to determine a change in a coolant state, such as a failure in a secondary cooling loop (such as a CDU and cooling manifolds) or a primary cooling loop (such as a chilling facility, cooling manifolds, and also an associated CDU). In at least one embodiment, a failure may also occur with a cooling manifold requiring replacement. In at least one embodiment, a control logic may cause at least one flow controller to provide a response, such as by engaging an in-rack RDU having multiple refrigerant cooling loops with their respective condenser units, refrigerants, evaporator sections, R2RHXes and a supportive cold plate, to provide cooling for at least one computing device. In at least one embodiment, such engagement may be only to adjust pressure of refrigerant, which refrigerant is always flowing through a cold plate.

In at least one embodiment, a control logic may cause a first signal to at least one flow controller to enable a stopping of a secondary coolant from a secondary cooling loop as part of a coolant response. In at least one embodiment, a control logic may cause a second signal to at least one flow controller to enable a starting of a refrigerant from a refrigerant cooling loop as part of a response. In at least one embodiment, a control logic may receive sensor inputs from sensors associated with secondary coolant of a CDU, a refrigerant, and/or at least one computing device. In at least one embodiment, at least one processor can determine a change in a coolant state based in part on sensor inputs. In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks of an inference and/or training logic 1815 may be adapted to receive sensor inputs and to infer a change in a coolant state.

In at least one embodiment, at least one processor may include one or more circuits for one or more neural networks, such as an inference and/or training logic 1815. In at least one embodiment, an inference and/or training logic 1815 may be adapted to infer, from sensor inputs associated with at least one server or at least one rack, a change in a coolant state, such as coolant from a CDU being ineffective or retaining too much heat upon entry into a rack. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits may be adapted to cause at least one flow controller to provide a response from a refrigerant cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, control logic associated with one or more circuits may cause a first signal (along with any associated signals) to at least one flow controller to enable a response—either from a secondary cooling loop or a refrigerant cooling loop having an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system. In at least one embodiment, a second signal may be provided to at least flow controller and may also enable only an R2AHX or R2RHX 432 in different modes without a secondary cooling loop but may engage or activate a secondary cooling loop if further cooling is required. In at least one embodiment, a distributed or an integrated architecture is enabled by one or more circuits of at least one processor. In at least one embodiment, a distributed architecture may be supported by distinctly located circuits of one or more circuits.

In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks of an inference and/or training logic 1815 may be adapted to infer that an increase or a decrease in cooling requirements of at least one computing component of at least one server. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits may be adapted to cause a cooling loop to economically address decreased cooling requirements or to supplement increased cooling requirements for at least one computing component. In at least one embodiment, enabling a cooling loop represents a response from a refrigerant cooling loop to preempt a respective increase or a respective decrease in cooling requirements of at least one computing component of at least one server based in part on workload sent to at least one computing component.

In at least one embodiment, at least one processor includes one or more circuits, such as an inference and/or training logic 1815, to train one or more neural networks to make inferences from provided data. In at least one embodiment, inference and/or training logic 1815 may infer, from sensor inputs associated with at least one server or at least one rack, a change in a coolant state. In at least one embodiment, an inference may be used to enable one or more circuits to cause at least one flow controller of a refrigerant cooling loop to provide a response. In at least one embodiment, a response may be to cause a refrigerant response from a refrigerant cooling loop to absorb heat into a refrigerant and to exchange absorbed heat to an environment via condenser unit having fans (or to a second refrigerant cooling loop), instead of a secondary cooling loop having a CDU.

In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits may be adapted to train one or more neural networks to infer that an increase or a decrease in cooling requirements of at least one computing component of at least one server. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuits may be adapted to train one or more neural networks to infer that an increase or a decrease in flow output from a secondary cooling loop is associated with an improper flow of secondary coolant because of a failed CDU or a respective increase or a respective decrease in power requirements of at least one computing component of at least one server.

In at least one embodiment, one or more neural networks may be trained to make inferences by prior associated heat features or cooling requirements from computing devices, servers, or racks, and cooling capacity or capabilities indicated by a fluid source of a local cooling loop, such as by an in-rack RDU with a pressure control system having a specific cooling capability that is above a forced air cooling capability, but that may be below a cooling capability of a secondary cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, prior cooling requirements satisfied by a refrigerant cooling loop may be used to cause one or more neural networks to make similar inferences for future similar cooling requirements (in consideration of small variations there from) to be satisfied by adjusting one or more flow controllers to engage a refrigerant cooling loop at different pressures, and also at different flow volumes or different flow rates.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method 500 associated with a datacenter cooling system of FIGS. 2-4, according to at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, a method 500 includes a step 502 for providing an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit (RDU) to distribute refrigerant to one or more colds plates. In at least one embodiment, a step 504 in such a method 500 is for enabling a determination of a temperature associated with one or more cold plates. In at least one embodiment, a step 506 in such a method 500 is for verifying that a temperature associated with one or more cold plates has been determined. In at least one embodiment, step 504 may be repeated based in part on an outcome from step 506. In at least one embodiment, a step 508 in such a method 500 is for enabling an in-rack RDU to be associated with a pressure control system.

In at least one embodiment, a bypass line may be provided from an R2RHX of an in-rack RDU to one or more cold plates or to a manifold so that refrigerant may be provided at a default pressure by circumventing a pressure control system. In at least one embodiment, a direct line through a pressure control system may be provided from an R2AHX or R2RHX of an in-rack RDU to one or more cold plates or to a manifold. In at least one embodiment, step 508 may engage a bypass or a direct line depending on a temperature of at least one cold plate or a computing device (and an associated cooling requirement). In at least one embodiment, a step 510 in such a method 500 is for enabling a pressure control system to cause a pressure-drop before an expansion valve for a liquid-phase of a refrigerant based in part on a pressure of a liquid-phase of a refrigerant exceeding a first threshold and based in part on heat dissipated being below a second threshold. In at least one embodiment, therefore, refrigerant may be provided at a reduced pressure caused by a pressure control system bleeding part of an initial pressure in a refrigerant and may be provided from a direct line.

In at least one embodiment, method 500 may include a further step or a sub-step for determining, using at least one processor, a temperature associated one or more cold plates. In at least one embodiment, such a temperature may be a temperature from heat dissipated into a refrigerant of one or more cold plates or a temperature of a computing device associated with one or more cold plates. In at least one embodiment, method 500 may include a further step or a sub-step for determining a first cooling requirement or a second cooling requirement using such a temperature. In at least one embodiment, method 500 may include a further step or a sub-step for causing, based in part on a first cooling requirement or a second cooling requirement, a first refrigerant cooling loop to distribute a first refrigerant, a second refrigerant cooling loop to interface with a first refrigerant cooling loop within an in-rack RDU, or a secondary cooling loop, where a secondary cooling loop may be associated with a primary cooling loop.

In at least one embodiment, method 500 may include a further step or a sub-step for receiving, in at least one processor, sensor inputs from sensors associated with at least one computing device, a rack, a secondary coolant, one or more cold plates, or a first refrigerant of a first refrigerant cooling loop. In at least one embodiment, method 500 may include a further step or a sub-step for determining, using at least one processor, a first cooling requirement and a second cooling requirement based in part on such sensor inputs. In at least one embodiment, method 500 may include a further step or a sub-step for enabling a refrigerant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger (R2RHX) of an in-rack RDU to couple multiple condenser units from multiple racks with a second evaporator section associated with a second refrigerant cooling loop, so that different heat from different racks can be dissipated to an ambient environment from a second condenser unit that is located external to an in-rack RDU.

In at least one embodiment, method 500 may include a further step or a sub-step for receiving, by at least one processor, sensor inputs from sensors associated with at least one computing device. In at least one embodiment, method 500 may include a further step or a sub-step for determining, by at least one processor, a change in a coolant state based in part on such sensor inputs. In at least one embodiment, method 500 may include a further step or a sub-step for causing, based in part on a change in a coolant state, a first refrigerant cooling loop, a second refrigerant cooling loop, or a secondary cooling loop, where such a secondary cooling loop may be associated with a primary cooling loop.

Servers and Data Centers

The following figures set forth, without limitation, exemplary network server and datacenter based systems that can be used to implement at least one embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a distributed system 600, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, distributed system 600 includes one or more client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and 608, which are configured to execute and operate a client application such as a web browser, proprietary client, and/or variations thereof over one or more network(s) 610. In at least one embodiment, server 612 may be communicatively coupled with remote client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and 608 via network 610.

In at least one embodiment, server 612 may be adapted to run one or more services or software applications such as services and applications that may manage session activity of single sign-on (SSO) access across multiple datacenters. In at least one embodiment, server 612 may also provide other services or software applications can include non-virtual and virtual environments. In at least one embodiment, these services may be offered as web-based or cloud services or under a Software as a Service (SaaS) model to users of client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and/or 608. In at least one embodiment, users operating client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and/or 608 may in turn utilize one or more client applications to interact with server 612 to utilize services provided by these components.

In at least one embodiment, software components 618, 620 and 622 of system 600 are implemented on server 612. In at least one embodiment, one or more components of system 600 and/or services provided by these components may also be implemented by one or more of client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and/or 608. In at least one embodiment, users operating client computing devices may then utilize one or more client applications to use services provided by these components. In at least one embodiment, these components may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof. It should be appreciated that various different system configurations are possible, which may be different from distributed system 600. The embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is thus at least one embodiment of a distributed system for implementing an embodiment system and is not intended to be limiting.

In at least one embodiment, client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and/or 608 may include various types of computing systems. In at least one embodiment, a client computing device may include portable handheld devices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellular telephone, an iPad®, computing tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA)) or wearable devices (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounted display), running software such as Microsoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety of mobile operating systems such as iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry 10, Palm OS, and/or variations thereof. In at least one embodiment, devices may support various applications such as various Internet-related apps, e-mail, short message service (SMS) applications, and may use various other communication protocols. In at least one embodiment, client computing devices may also include general purpose personal computers including, by way of at least one embodiment, personal computers and/or laptop computers running various versions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems.

In at least one embodiment, client computing devices can be workstation computers running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems, including without limitation a variety of GNU/Linux operating systems, such as Google Chrome OS. In at least one embodiment, client computing devices may also include electronic devices such as a thin-client computer, an Internet-enabled gaming system (e.g., a Microsoft Xbox gaming console with or without a Kinect® gesture input device), and/or a personal messaging device, capable of communicating over network(s) 610. Although distributed system 600 in FIG. 6 is shown with four client computing devices, any number of client computing devices may be supported. Other devices, such as devices with sensors, etc., may interact with server 612.

In at least one embodiment, network(s) 610 in distributed system 600 may be any type of network that can support data communications using any of a variety of available protocols, including without limitation TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol), SNA (systems network architecture), IPX (Internet packet exchange), AppleTalk, and/or variations thereof. In at least one embodiment, network(s) 610 can be a local area network (LAN), networks based on Ethernet, Token-Ring, a wide-area network, Internet, a virtual network, a virtual private network (VPN), an intranet, an extranet, a public switched telephone network (PSTN), an infra-red network, a wireless network (e.g., a network operating under any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) 802.11 suite of protocols, Bluetooth®, and/or any other wireless protocol), and/or any combination of these and/or other networks.

In at least one embodiment, server 612 may be composed of one or more general purpose computers, specialized server computers (including, by way of at least one embodiment, PC (personal computer) servers, UNIX® servers, mid-range servers, mainframe computers, rack-mounted servers, etc.), server farms, server clusters, or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination. In at least one embodiment, server 612 can include one or more virtual machines running virtual operating systems, or other computing architectures involving virtualization. In at least one embodiment, one or more flexible pools of logical storage devices can be virtualized to maintain virtual storage devices for a server. In at least one embodiment, virtual networks can be controlled by server 612 using software defined networking. In at least one embodiment, server 612 may be adapted to run one or more services or software applications.

In at least one embodiment, server 612 may run any operating system, as well as any commercially available server operating system. In at least one embodiment, server 612 may also run any of a variety of additional server applications and/or mid-tier applications, including HTTP (hypertext transport protocol) servers, FTP (file transfer protocol) servers, CGI (common gateway interface) servers, JAVA® servers, database servers, and/or variations thereof. In at least one embodiment, exemplary database servers include without limitation those commercially available from Oracle, Microsoft, Sybase, IBM (International Business Machines), and/or variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, server 612 may include one or more applications to analyze and consolidate data feeds and/or event updates received from users of client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and 608. In at least one embodiment, data feeds and/or event updates may include, but are not limited to, Twitter® feeds, Facebook® updates or real-time updates received from one or more third party information sources and continuous data streams, which may include real-time events related to sensor data applications, financial tickers, network performance measuring tools (e.g., network monitoring and traffic management applications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile traffic monitoring, and/or variations thereof. In at least one embodiment, server 612 may also include one or more applications to display data feeds and/or real-time events via one or more display devices of client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and 608.

In at least one embodiment, distributed system 600 may also include one or more databases 614 and 616. In at least one embodiment, databases may provide a mechanism for storing information such as user interactions information, usage patterns information, adaptation rules information, and other information. In at least one embodiment, databases 614 and 616 may reside in a variety of locations. In at least one embodiment, one or more of databases 614 and 616 may reside on a non-transitory storage medium local to (and/or resident in) server 612. In at least one embodiment, databases 614 and 616 may be remote from server 612 and in communication with server 612 via a network-based or dedicated connection. In at least one embodiment, databases 614 and 616 may reside in a storage-area network (SAN). In at least one embodiment, any necessary files for performing functions attributed to server 612 may be stored locally on server 612 and/or remotely, as appropriate. In at least one embodiment, databases 614 and 616 may include relational databases, such as databases that are adapted to store, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary datacenter 700, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, datacenter 700 includes, without limitation, a datacenter infrastructure layer 710, a framework layer 720, a software layer 730 and an application layer 740.

In at least one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7 , datacenter infrastructure layer 710 may include a resource orchestrator 712, grouped computing resources 714, and node computing resources (“node C.R.s”) 716(1)-716(N), where “N” represents any whole, positive integer. In at least one embodiment, node C.R.s 716(1)-716(N) may include, but are not limited to, any number of central processing units (“CPUs”) or other processors (including accelerators, field programmable gate arrays (“FPGAs”), graphics processors, etc.), memory devices (e.g., dynamic read-only memory), storage devices (e.g., solid state or disk drives), network input/output (“NW I/O”) devices, network switches, virtual machines (“VMs”), power modules, and cooling modules, etc. In at least one embodiment, one or more node C.R.s from among node C.R.s 716(1)-716(N) may be a server having one or more of above-mentioned computing resources.

In at least one embodiment, grouped computing resources 714 may include separate groupings of node C.R.s housed within one or more racks (not shown), or many racks housed in datacenters at various geographical locations (also not shown). Separate groupings of node C.R.s within grouped computing resources 714 may include grouped compute, network, memory or storage resources that may be configured or allocated to support one or more workloads. In at least one embodiment, several node C.R.s including CPUs or processors may grouped within one or more racks to provide compute resources to support one or more workloads. In at least one embodiment, one or more racks may also include any number of power modules, cooling modules, and network switches, in any combination.

In at least one embodiment, resource orchestrator 712 may configure or otherwise control one or more node C.R.s 716(1)-716(N) and/or grouped computing resources 714. In at least one embodiment, resource orchestrator 712 may include a software design infrastructure (“SDI”) management entity for datacenter 700. In at least one embodiment, resource orchestrator 712 may include hardware, software or some combination thereof.

In at least one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7 , framework layer 720 includes, without limitation, a job scheduler 732, a configuration manager 734, a resource manager 736 and a distributed file system 738. In at least one embodiment, framework layer 720 may include a framework to support software 752 of software layer 730 and/or one or more application(s) 742 of application layer 740. In at least one embodiment, software 752 or application(s) 742 may respectively include web-based service software or applications, such as those provided by Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. In at least one embodiment, framework layer 720 may be, but is not limited to, a type of free and open-source software web application framework such as Apache Spark™ (hereinafter “Spark”) that may utilize distributed file system 738 for large-scale data processing (e.g., “big data”). In at least one embodiment, job scheduler 732 may include a Spark driver to facilitate scheduling of workloads supported by various layers of datacenter 700. In at least one embodiment, configuration manager 734 may be capable of configuring different layers such as software layer 730 and framework layer 720, including Spark and distributed file system 738 for supporting large-scale data processing. In at least one embodiment, resource manager 736 may be capable of managing clustered or grouped computing resources mapped to or allocated for support of distributed file system 738 and job scheduler 732. In at least one embodiment, clustered or grouped computing resources may include grouped computing resource 714 at datacenter infrastructure layer 710. In at least one embodiment, resource manager 736 may coordinate with resource orchestrator 712 to manage these mapped or allocated computing resources.

In at least one embodiment, software 752 included in software layer 730 may include software used by at least portions of node C.R.s 716(1)-716(N), grouped computing resources 714, and/or distributed file system 738 of framework layer 720. One or more types of software may include, but are not limited to, Internet web page search software, e-mail virus scan software, database software, and streaming video content software.

In at least one embodiment, application(s) 742 included in application layer 740 may include one or more types of applications used by at least portions of node C.R.s 716(1)-716(N), grouped computing resources 714, and/or distributed file system 738 of framework layer 720. In at least one or more types of applications may include, without limitation, CUDA applications, 5G network applications, artificial intelligence application, datacenter applications, and/or variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, any of configuration manager 734, resource manager 736, and resource orchestrator 712 may implement any number and type of self-modifying actions based on any amount and type of data acquired in any technically feasible fashion. In at least one embodiment, self-modifying actions may relieve a datacenter operator of datacenter 700 from making possibly bad configuration decisions and possibly avoiding underutilized and/or poor performing portions of a datacenter.

FIG. 8 illustrates a client-server network 804 formed by a plurality of network server computers 802 which are interlinked, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, each network server computer 802 stores data accessible to other network server computers 802 and to client computers 806 and networks 808 which link into a wide area network 804. In at least one embodiment, configuration of a client-server network 804 may change over time as client computers 806 and one or more networks 808 connect and disconnect from a network 804, and as one or more trunk line server computers 802 are added or removed from a network 804. In at least one embodiment, when a client computer 806 and a network 808 are connected with network server computers 802, client-server network includes such client computer 806 and network 808. In at least one embodiment, the term computer includes any device or machine capable of accepting data, applying prescribed processes to data, and supplying results of processes.

In at least one embodiment, client-server network 804 stores information which is accessible to network server computers 802, remote networks 808 and client computers 806. In at least one embodiment, network server computers 802 are formed by main frame computers minicomputers, and/or microcomputers having one or more processors each. In at least one embodiment, server computers 802 are linked together by wired and/or wireless transfer media, such as conductive wire, fiber optic cable, and/or microwave transmission media, satellite transmission media or other conductive, optic or electromagnetic wave transmission media. In at least one embodiment, client computers 806 access a network server computer 802 by a similar wired or a wireless transfer medium. In at least one embodiment, a client computer 806 may link into a client-server network 804 using a modem and a standard telephone communication network. In at least one embodiment, alternative carrier systems such as cable and satellite communication systems also may be used to link into client-server network 804. In at least one embodiment, other private or time-shared carrier systems may be used. In at least one embodiment, network 804 is a global information network, such as the Internet. In at least one embodiment, network is a private intranet using similar protocols as the Internet, but with added security measures and restricted access controls. In at least one embodiment, network 804 is a private, or semi-private network using proprietary communication protocols.

In at least one embodiment, client computer 806 is any end user computer, and may also be a mainframe computer, mini-computer or microcomputer having one or more microprocessors. In at least one embodiment, server computer 802 may at times function as a client computer accessing another server computer 802. In at least one embodiment, remote network 808 may be a local area network, a network added into a wide area network through an independent service provider (ISP) for the Internet, or another group of computers interconnected by wired or wireless transfer media having a configuration which is either fixed or changing over time. In at least one embodiment, client computers 806 may link into and access a network 804 independently or through a remote network 808.

FIG. 9 illustrates a computer network 908 connecting one or more computing machines, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, network 908 may be any type of electronically connected group of computers including, for instance, the following networks: Internet, Intranet, Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN) or an interconnected combination of these network types. In at least one embodiment, connectivity within a network 908 may be a remote modem, Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), Token Ring (IEEE 802.5), Fiber Distributed Datalink Interface (FDDI), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), or any other communication protocol. In at least one embodiment, computing devices linked to a network may be desktop, server, portable, handheld, set-top box, personal digital assistant (PDA), a terminal, or any other desired type or configuration. In at least one embodiment, depending on their functionality, network connected devices may vary widely in processing power, internal memory, and other performance aspects.

In at least one embodiment, communications within a network and to or from computing devices connected to a network may be either wired or wireless. In at least one embodiment, network 908 may include, at least in part, the world-wide public Internet which generally connects a plurality of users in accordance with a client-server model in accordance with a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) specification. In at least one embodiment, client-server network is a dominant model for communicating between two computers. In at least one embodiment, a client computer (“client”) issues one or more commands to a server computer (“server”). In at least one embodiment, server fulfills client commands by accessing available network resources and returning information to a client pursuant to client commands. In at least one embodiment, client computer systems and network resources resident on network servers are assigned a network address for identification during communications between elements of a network. In at least one embodiment, communications from other network connected systems to servers will include a network address of a relevant server/network resource as part of communication so that an appropriate destination of a data/request is identified as a recipient. In at least one embodiment, when a network 908 comprises the global Internet, a network address is an IP address in a TCP/IP format which may, at least in part, route data to an e-mail account, a website, or other Internet tool resident on a server. In at least one embodiment, information and services which are resident on network servers may be available to a web browser of a client computer through a domain name (e.g. www.site.com) which maps to an IP address of a network server.

In at least one embodiment, a plurality of clients 902, 904, and 906 are connected to a network 908 via respective communication links. In at least one embodiment, each of these clients may access a network 908 via any desired form of communication, such as via a dial-up modem connection, cable link, a digital subscriber line (DSL), wireless or satellite link, or any other form of communication. In at least one embodiment, each client may communicate using any machine that is compatible with a network 908, such as a personal computer (PC), work station, dedicated terminal, personal data assistant (PDA), or other similar equipment. In at least one embodiment, clients 902, 904, and 906 may or may not be located in a same geographical area.

In at least one embodiment, a plurality of servers 910, 912, and 914 are connected to a network 918 to serve clients that are in communication with a network 918. In at least one embodiment, each server is typically a powerful computer or device that manages network resources and responds to client commands. In at least one embodiment, servers include computer readable data storage media such as hard disk drives and RAM memory that store program instructions and data. In at least one embodiment, servers 910, 912, 914 run application programs that respond to client commands. In at least one embodiment, server 910 may run a web server application for responding to client requests for HTML pages and may also run a mail server application for receiving and routing electronic mail. In at least one embodiment, other application programs, such as an FTP server or a media server for streaming audio/video data to clients may also be running on a server 910. In at least one embodiment, different servers may be dedicated to performing different tasks. In at least one embodiment, server 910 may be a dedicated web server that manages resources relating to web sites for various users, whereas a server 912 may be dedicated to provide electronic mail (email) management. In at least one embodiment, other servers may be dedicated for media (audio, video, etc.), file transfer protocol (FTP), or a combination of any two or more services that are typically available or provided over a network. In at least one embodiment, each server may be in a location that is the same as or different from that of other servers. In at least one embodiment, there may be multiple servers that perform mirrored tasks for users, thereby relieving congestion or minimizing traffic directed to and from a single server. In at least one embodiment, servers 910, 912, 914 are under control of a web hosting provider in a business of maintaining and delivering third party content over a network 918.

In at least one embodiment, web hosting providers deliver services to two different types of clients. In at least one embodiment, one type, which may be referred to as a browser, requests content from servers 910, 912, 914 such as web pages, email messages, video clips, etc. In at least one embodiment, a second type, which may be referred to as a user, hires a web hosting provider to maintain a network resource such as a web site, and to make it available to browsers. In at least one embodiment, users contract with a web hosting provider to make memory space, processor capacity, and communication bandwidth available for their desired network resource in accordance with an amount of server resources a user desires to utilize.

In at least one embodiment, in order for a web hosting provider to provide services for both of these clients, application programs which manage a network resources hosted by servers must be properly configured. In at least one embodiment, program configuration process involves defining a set of parameters which control, at least in part, an application program's response to browser requests and which also define, at least in part, a server resources available to a particular user.

In one embodiment, an intranet server 916 is in communication with a network 908 via a communication link. In at least one embodiment, intranet server 916 is in communication with a server manager 918. In at least one embodiment, server manager 918 comprises a database of an application program configuration parameters which are being utilized in servers 910, 912, 914. In at least one embodiment, users modify a database 920 via an intranet 916, and a server manager 918 interacts with servers 910, 912, 914 to modify application program parameters so that they match a content of a database. In at least one embodiment, a user logs onto an intranet server 916 by connecting to an intranet 916 via computer 902 and entering authentication information, such as a username and password.

In at least one embodiment, when a user wishes to sign up for new service or modify an existing service, an intranet server 916 authenticates a user and provides a user with an interactive screen display/control panel that allows a user to access configuration parameters for a particular application program. In at least one embodiment, a user is presented with a number of modifiable text boxes that describe aspects of a configuration of a user's web site or other network resource. In at least one embodiment, if a user desires to increase memory space reserved on a server for its web site, a user is provided with a field in which a user specifies a desired memory space. In at least one embodiment, in response to receiving this information, an intranet server 916 updates a database 920. In at least one embodiment, server manager 918 forwards this information to an appropriate server, and a new parameter is used during application program operation. In at least one embodiment, an intranet server 916 is configured to provide users with access to configuration parameters of hosted network resources (e.g., web pages, email, FTP sites, media sites, etc.), for which a user has contracted with a web hosting service provider.

FIG. 10A illustrates a networked computer system 1000A, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, networked computer system 1000A comprises a plurality of nodes or personal computers (“PCs”) 1002, 1018, 1020. In at least one embodiment, personal computer or node 1002 comprises a processor 1014, memory 1016, video camera 1004, microphone 1006, mouse 1008, speakers 1010, and monitor 1012. In at least one embodiment, PCs 1002, 1018, 1020 may each run one or more desktop servers of an internal network within a given company, for instance, or may be servers of a general network not limited to a specific environment. In at least one embodiment, there is one server per PC node of a network, so that each PC node of a network represents a particular network server, having a particular network URL address. In at least one embodiment, each server defaults to a default web page for that server's user, which may itself contain embedded URLs pointing to further subpages of that user on that server, or to other servers or pages on other servers on a network.

In at least one embodiment, nodes 1002, 1018, 1020 and other nodes of a network are interconnected via medium 1022. In at least one embodiment, medium 1022 may be, a communication channel such as an Integrated Services Digital Network (“ISDN”). In at least one embodiment, various nodes of a networked computer system may be connected through a variety of communication media, including local area networks (“LANs”), plain-old telephone lines (“POTS”), sometimes referred to as public switched telephone networks (“PSTN”), and/or variations thereof. In at least one embodiment, various nodes of a network may also constitute computer system users inter-connected via a network such as the Internet. In at least one embodiment, each server on a network (running from a particular node of a network at a given instance) has a unique address or identification within a network, which may be specifiable in terms of an URL.

In at least one embodiment, a plurality of multi-point conferencing units (“MCUs”) may thus be utilized to transmit data to and from various nodes or “endpoints” of a conferencing system. In at least one embodiment, nodes and/or MCUs may be interconnected via an ISDN link or through a local area network (“LAN”), in addition to various other communications media such as nodes connected through the Internet. In at least one embodiment, nodes of a conferencing system may, in general, be connected directly to a communications medium such as a LAN or through an MCU, and that a conferencing system may comprise other nodes or elements such as routers, servers, and/or variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, processor 1014 is a general-purpose programmable processor. In at least one embodiment, processors of nodes of networked computer system 1000A may also be special-purpose video processors. In at least one embodiment, various peripherals and components of a node such as those of node 1002 may vary from those of other nodes. In at least one embodiment, node 1018 and node 1020 may be configured identically to or differently than node 1002. In at least one embodiment, a node may be implemented on any suitable computer system in addition to PC systems.

FIG. 10B illustrates a networked computer system 1000B, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, system 1000B illustrates a network such as LAN 1024, which may be used to interconnect a variety of nodes that may communicate with each other. In at least one embodiment, attached to LAN 1024 are a plurality of nodes such as PC nodes 1026, 1028, 1030. In at least one embodiment, a node may also be connected to the LAN via a network server or other means. In at least one embodiment, system 1000B comprises other types of nodes or elements, for at least one embodiment including routers, servers, and nodes.

FIG. 10C illustrates a networked computer system 1000C, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, system 1000C illustrates a WWW system having communications across a backbone communications network such as Internet 1032, which may be used to interconnect a variety of nodes of a network. In at least one embodiment, WWW is a set of protocols operating on top of the Internet, and allows a graphical interface system to operate thereon for accessing information through the Internet. In at least one embodiment, attached to Internet 1032 in WWW are a plurality of nodes such as PCs 1040, 1042, 1044. In at least one embodiment, a node is interfaced to other nodes of WWW through a WWW HTTP server such as servers 1034, 1036. In at least one embodiment, PC 1044 may be a PC forming a node of network 1032 and itself running its server 1036, although PC 1044 and server 1036 are illustrated separately in FIG. 10C for illustrative purposes.

In at least one embodiment, WWW is a distributed type of application, characterized by WWW HTTP, WWW's protocol, which runs on top of the Internet's transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (“TCP/IP”). In at least one embodiment, WWW may thus be characterized by a set of protocols (i.e., HTTP) running on the Internet as its “backbone.”

In at least one embodiment, a web browser is an application running on a node of a network that, in WWW-compatible type network systems, allows users of a particular server or node to view such information and thus allows a user to search graphical and text-based files that are linked together using hypertext links that are embedded in documents or files available from servers on a network that understand HTTP. In at least one embodiment, when a given web page of a first server associated with a first node is retrieved by a user using another server on a network such as the Internet, a document retrieved may have various hypertext links embedded therein and a local copy of a page is created local to a retrieving user. In at least one embodiment, when a user clicks on a hypertext link, locally-stored information related to a selected hypertext link is typically sufficient to allow a user's machine to open a connection across the Internet to a server indicated by a hypertext link.

In at least one embodiment, more than one user may be coupled to each HTTP server, through a LAN such as LAN 1038 as illustrated with respect to WWW HTTP server 1034. In at least one embodiment, system 1000C may also comprise other types of nodes or elements. In at least one embodiment, a WWW HTTP server is an application running on a machine, such as a PC. In at least one embodiment, each user may be considered to have a unique “server,” as illustrated with respect to PC 1044. In at least one embodiment, a server may be considered to be a server such as WWW HTTP server 1034, which provides access to a network for a LAN or plurality of nodes or plurality of LANs. In at least one embodiment, there are a plurality of users, each having a desktop PC or node of a network, each desktop PC potentially establishing a server for a user thereof. In at least one embodiment, each server is associated with a particular network address or URL, which, when accessed, provides a default web page for that user. In at least one embodiment, a web page may contain further links (embedded URLs) pointing to further subpages of that user on that server, or to other servers on a network or to pages on other servers on a network.

Cloud Computing and Services

The following figures set forth, without limitation, exemplary cloud-based systems that can be used to implement at least one embodiment.

In at least one embodiment, cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. In at least one embodiment, users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over technology infrastructure, which can be referred to as “in the cloud,” that supports them. In at least one embodiment, cloud computing incorporates infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, software as a service, and other variations that have a common theme of reliance on the Internet for satisfying computing needs of users. In at least one embodiment, a typical cloud deployment, such as in a private cloud (e.g., enterprise network), or a datacenter (DC) in a public cloud (e.g., Internet) can consist of thousands of servers (or alternatively, VMs), hundreds of Ethernet, Fiber Channel or Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) ports, switching and storage infrastructure, etc. In at least one embodiment, cloud can also consist of network services infrastructure like IPsec VPN hubs, firewalls, load balancers, wide area network (WAN) optimizers etc. In at least one embodiment, remote subscribers can access cloud applications and services securely by connecting via a VPN tunnel, such as an IPsec VPN tunnel.

In at least one embodiment, cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

In at least one embodiment, cloud computing is characterized by on-demand self-service, in which a consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human inter-action with each service's provider. In at least one embodiment, cloud computing is characterized by broad network access, in which capabilities are available over a network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs). In at least one embodiment, cloud computing is characterized by resource pooling, in which a provider's computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically as-signed and reassigned according to consumer demand. In at least one embodiment, there is a sense of location independence in that a customer generally has no control or knowledge over an exact location of provided resources, but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

In at least one embodiment, resources include storage, processing, memory, network bandwidth, and virtual machines. In at least one embodiment, cloud computing is characterized by rapid elasticity, in which capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. In at least one embodiment, to a consumer, capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time. In at least one embodiment, cloud computing is characterized by measured service, in which cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to a type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). In at least one embodiment, resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both a provider and consumer of a utilized service.

In at least one embodiment, cloud computing may be associated with various services. In at least one embodiment, cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) may refer to as service in which a capability provided to a consumer is to use a provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure. In at least one embodiment, applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). In at least one embodiment, consumer does not manage or control underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with a possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.

In at least one embodiment, cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) may refer to a service in which a capability provided to a consumer is to deploy onto cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages and tools supported by a provider. In at least one embodiment, consumer does not manage or control underlying cloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over deployed applications and possibly application hosting environment configurations.

In at least one embodiment, cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) may refer to a service in which a capability provided to a consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where a consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. In at least one embodiment, consumer does not manage or control underlying cloud infrastructure, but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).

In at least one embodiment, cloud computing may be deployed in various ways. In at least one embodiment, a private cloud may refer to a cloud infrastructure that is operated solely for an organization. In at least one embodiment, a private cloud may be managed by an organization or a third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises. In at least one embodiment, a community cloud may refer to a cloud infrastructure that is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). In at least one embodiment, a community cloud may be managed by organizations or a third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises. In at least one embodiment, a public cloud may refer to a cloud infrastructure that is made available to a general public or a large industry group and is owned by an organization providing cloud services. In at least one embodiment, a hybrid cloud may refer to a cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load-balancing between clouds). In at least one embodiment, a cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus on statelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.

FIG. 11 illustrates one or more components of a system environment 1100 in which services may be offered as third party network services, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, a third party network may be referred to as a cloud, cloud network, cloud computing network, and/or variations thereof. In at least one embodiment, system environment 1100 includes one or more client computing devices 1104, 1106, and 1108 that may be used by users to interact with a third party network infrastructure system 1102 that provides third party network services, which may be referred to as cloud computing services. In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1102 may comprise one or more computers and/or servers.

It should be appreciated that third party network infrastructure system 1102 depicted in FIG. 11 may have other components than those depicted. Further, FIG. 11 depicts an embodiment of a third party network infrastructure system. In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1102 may have more or fewer components than depicted in FIG. 11 , may combine two or more components, or may have a different configuration or arrangement of components.

In at least one embodiment, client computing devices 1104, 1106, and 1108 may be configured to operate a client application such as a web browser, a proprietary client application, or some other application, which may be used by a user of a client computing device to interact with third party network infrastructure system 1102 to use services provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102. Although exemplary system environment 1100 is shown with three client computing devices, any number of client computing devices may be supported. In at least one embodiment, other devices such as devices with sensors, etc. may interact with third party network infrastructure system 1102. In at least one embodiment, network(s) 1110 may facilitate communications and exchange of data between client computing devices 1104, 1106, and 1108 and third party network infrastructure system 1102.

In at least one embodiment, services provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102 may include a host of services that are made available to users of a third party network infrastructure system on demand. In at least one embodiment, various services may also be offered including without limitation online data storage and backup solutions, Web-based e-mail services, hosted office suites and document collaboration services, database management and processing, managed technical support services, and/or variations thereof. In at least one embodiment, services provided by a third party network infrastructure system can dynamically scale to meet needs of its users.

In at least one embodiment, a specific instantiation of a service provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102 may be referred to as a “service instance.” In at least one embodiment, in general, any service made available to a user via a communication network, such as the Internet, from a third party network service provider's system is referred to as a “third party network service.” In at least one embodiment, in a public third party network environment, servers and systems that make up a third party network service provider's system are different from a customer's own on-premises servers and systems. In at least one embodiment, a third party network service provider's system may host an application, and a user may, via a communication network such as the Internet, on demand, order and use an application.

In at least one embodiment, a service in a computer network third party network infrastructure may include protected computer network access to storage, a hosted database, a hosted web server, a software application, or other service provided by a third party network vendor to a user. In at least one embodiment, a service can include password-protected access to remote storage on a third party network through the Internet. In at least one embodiment, a service can include a web service-based hosted relational database and a script-language middleware engine for private use by a networked developer. In at least one embodiment, a service can include access to an email software application hosted on a third party network vendor's web site.

In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1102 may include a suite of applications, middleware, and database service offerings that are delivered to a customer in a self-service, subscription-based, elastically scalable, reliable, highly available, and secure manner. In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1102 may also provide “big data” related computation and analysis services. In at least one embodiment, term “big data” is generally used to refer to extremely large data sets that can be stored and manipulated by analysts and researchers to visualize large amounts of data, detect trends, and/or otherwise interact with data. In at least one embodiment, big data and related applications can be hosted and/or manipulated by an infrastructure system on many levels and at different scales. In at least one embodiment, tens, hundreds, or thousands of processors linked in parallel can act upon such data in order to present it or simulate external forces on data or what it represents. In at least one embodiment, these data sets can involve structured data, such as that organized in a database or otherwise according to a structured model, and/or unstructured data (e.g., emails, images, data blobs (binary large objects), web pages, complex event processing). In at least one embodiment, by leveraging an ability of an embodiment to relatively quickly focus more (or fewer) computing resources upon an objective, a third party network infrastructure system may be better available to carry out tasks on large data sets based on demand from a business, government agency, research organization, private individual, group of like-minded individuals or organizations, or other entity.

In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1102 may be adapted to automatically provision, manage and track a customer's subscription to services offered by third party network infrastructure system 1102. In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1102 may provide third party network services via different deployment models. In at least one embodiment, services may be provided under a public third party network model in which third party network infrastructure system 1102 is owned by an organization selling third party network services and services are made available to a general public or different industry enterprises. In at least one embodiment, services may be provided under a private third party network model in which third party network infrastructure system 1102 is operated solely for a single organization and may provide services for one or more entities within an organization. In at least one embodiment, third party network services may also be provided under a community third party network model in which third party network infrastructure system 1102 and services provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102 are shared by several organizations in a related community. In at least one embodiment, third party network services may also be provided under a hybrid third party network model, which is a combination of two or more different models.

In at least one embodiment, services provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102 may include one or more services provided under Software as a Service (SaaS) category, Platform as a Service (PaaS) category, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) category, or other categories of services including hybrid services. In at least one embodiment, a customer, via a subscription order, may order one or more services provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102. In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1102 then performs processing to provide services in a customer's subscription order.

In at least one embodiment, services provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102 may include, without limitation, application services, platform services and infrastructure services. In at least one embodiment, application services may be provided by a third party network infrastructure system via a SaaS platform. In at least one embodiment, SaaS platform may be configured to provide third party network services that fall under a SaaS category. In at least one embodiment, SaaS platform may provide capabilities to build and deliver a suite of on-demand applications on an integrated development and deployment platform. In at least one embodiment, SaaS platform may manage and control underlying software and infrastructure for providing SaaS services. In at least one embodiment, by utilizing services provided by a SaaS platform, customers can utilize applications executing on a third party network infrastructure system. In at least one embodiment, customers can acquire an application services without a need for customers to purchase separate licenses and support. In at least one embodiment, various different SaaS services may be provided. In at least one embodiment, this may include, without limitation, services that provide solutions for sales performance management, enterprise integration, and business flexibility for large organizations.

In at least one embodiment, platform services may be provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102 via a PaaS platform. In at least one embodiment, PaaS platform may be configured to provide third party network services that fall under a PaaS category. In at least one embodiment, platform services may include without limitation services that enable organizations to consolidate existing applications on a shared, common architecture, as well as an ability to build new applications that leverage shared services provided by a platform. In at least one embodiment, PaaS platform may manage and control underlying software and infrastructure for providing PaaS services. In at least one embodiment, customers can acquire PaaS services provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102 without a need for customers to purchase separate licenses and support.

In at least one embodiment, by utilizing services provided by a PaaS platform, customers can employ programming languages and tools supported by a third party network infrastructure system and also control deployed services. In at least one embodiment, platform services provided by a third party network infrastructure system may include database third party network services, middleware third party network services and third party network services. In at least one embodiment, database third party network services may support shared service deployment models that enable organizations to pool database resources and offer customers a Database as a Service in a form of a database third party network. In at least one embodiment, middleware third party network services may provide a platform for customers to develop and deploy various business applications, and third party network services may provide a platform for customers to deploy applications, in a third party network infrastructure system.

In at least one embodiment, various different infrastructure services may be provided by an IaaS platform in a third party network infrastructure system. In at least one embodiment, infrastructure services facilitate management and control of underlying computing resources, such as storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources for customers utilizing services provided by a SaaS platform and a PaaS platform.

In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1102 may also include infrastructure resources 1130 for providing resources used to provide various services to customers of a third party network infrastructure system. In at least one embodiment, infrastructure resources 1130 may include pre-integrated and optimized combinations of hardware, such as servers, storage, and networking resources to execute services provided by a Paas platform and a Saas platform, and other resources.

In at least one embodiment, resources in third party network infrastructure system 1102 may be shared by multiple users and dynamically re-allocated per demand. In at least one embodiment, resources may be allocated to users in different time zones. In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1102 may enable a first set of users in a first time zone to utilize resources of a third party network infrastructure system for a specified number of hours and then enable a re-allocation of same resources to another set of users located in a different time zone, thereby maximizing utilization of resources.

In at least one embodiment, a number of internal shared services 1132 may be provided that are shared by different components or modules of third party network infrastructure system 1102 to enable provision of services by third party network infrastructure system 1102. In at least one embodiment, these internal shared services may include, without limitation, a security and identity service, an integration service, an enterprise repository service, an enterprise manager service, a virus scanning and white list service, a high availability, backup and recovery service, service for enabling third party network support, an email service, a notification service, a file transfer service, and/or variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1102 may provide comprehensive management of third party network services (e.g., SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services) in a third party network infrastructure system. In at least one embodiment, third party network management functionality may include capabilities for provisioning, managing and tracking a customer's subscription received by third party network infrastructure system 1102, and/or variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, as depicted in FIG. 11 , third party network management functionality may be provided by one or more modules, such as an order management module 1120, an order orchestration module 1122, an order provisioning module 1124, an order management and monitoring module 1126, and an identity management module 1128. In at least one embodiment, these modules may include or be provided using one or more computers and/or servers, which may be general purpose computers, specialized server computers, server farms, server clusters, or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination.

In at least one embodiment, at step 1134, a customer using a client device, such as client computing devices 1104, 1106 or 1108, may interact with third party network infrastructure system 1102 by requesting one or more services provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102 and placing an order for a subscription for one or more services offered by third party network infrastructure system 1102. In at least one embodiment, a customer may access a third party network User Interface (UI) such as third party network UI 1112, third party network UI 1114 and/or third party network UI 1116 and place a subscription order via these UIs. In at least one embodiment, order information received by third party network infrastructure system 1102 in response to a customer placing an order may include information identifying a customer and one or more services offered by a third party network infrastructure system 1102 that a customer intends to subscribe to.

In at least one embodiment, at step 1136, an order information received from a customer may be stored in an order database 1118. In at least one embodiment, if this is a new order, a new record may be created for an order. In at least one embodiment, order database 1118 can be one of several databases operated by third party network infrastructure system 1118 and operated in conjunction with other system elements.

In at least one embodiment, at step 1138, an order information may be forwarded to an order management module 1120 that may be configured to perform billing and accounting functions related to an order, such as verifying an order, and upon verification, booking an order.

In at least one embodiment, at step 1140, information regarding an order may be communicated to an order orchestration module 1122 that is configured to orchestrate provisioning of services and resources for an order placed by a customer. In at least one embodiment, order orchestration module 1122 may use services of order provisioning module 1124 for provisioning. In at least one embodiment, order orchestration module 1122 enables management of business processes associated with each order and applies business logic to determine whether an order should proceed to provisioning.

In at least one embodiment, at step 1142, upon receiving an order for a new subscription, order orchestration module 1122 sends a request to order provisioning module 1124 to allocate resources and configure resources needed to fulfill a subscription order. In at least one embodiment, order provisioning module 1124 enables an allocation of resources for services ordered by a customer. In at least one embodiment, order provisioning module 1124 provides a level of abstraction between third party network services provided by third party network infrastructure system 1100 and a physical implementation layer that is used to provision resources for providing requested services. In at least one embodiment, this enables order orchestration module 1122 to be isolated from implementation details, such as whether or not services and resources are actually provisioned in real-time or pre-provisioned and only allocated/assigned upon request.

In at least one embodiment, at step 1144, once services and resources are provisioned, a notification may be sent to subscribing customers indicating that a requested service is now ready for use. In at least one embodiment, information (e.g. a link) may be sent to a customer that enables a customer to start using requested services.

In at least one embodiment, at step 1146, a customer's subscription order may be managed and tracked by an order management and monitoring module 1126. In at least one embodiment, order management and monitoring module 1126 may be configured to collect usage statistics regarding a customer use of subscribed services. In at least one embodiment, statistics may be collected for an amount of storage used, an amount data transferred, a number of users, and an amount of system up time and system down time, and/or variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, third party network infrastructure system 1100 may include an identity management module 1128 that is configured to provide identity services, such as access management and authorization services in third party network infrastructure system 1100. In at least one embodiment, identity management module 1128 may control information about customers who wish to utilize services provided by third party network infrastructure system 1102. In at least one embodiment, such information can include information that authenticates identities of such customers and information that describes which actions those customers are authorized to perform relative to various system resources (e.g., files, directories, applications, communication ports, memory segments, etc.). In at least one embodiment, identity management module 1128 may also include management of descriptive information about each customer and about how and by whom that descriptive information can be accessed and modified.

FIG. 12 illustrates a cloud computing environment 1202, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, cloud computing environment 1202 comprises one or more computer system/servers 1204 with which computing devices such as, personal digital assistant (PDA) or cellular telephone 1206A, desktop computer 1206B, laptop computer 1206C, and/or automobile computer system 1206N communicate. In at least one embodiment, this allows for infrastructure, platforms and/or software to be offered as services from cloud computing environment 1202, so as to not require each client to separately maintain such resources. It is understood that types of computing devices 1206A-N shown in FIG. 12 are intended to be illustrative only and that cloud computing environment 1202 can communicate with any type of computerized device over any type of network and/or network/addressable connection (e.g., using a web browser).

In at least one embodiment, a computer system/server 1204, which can be denoted as a cloud computing node, is operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. In at least one embodiment, computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with computer system/server 1204 include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thin clients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframe computer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and/or variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, computer system/server 1204 may be described in a general context of computer system-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer system. In at least one embodiment, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and so on, that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In at least one embodiment, exemplary computer system/server 1204 may be practiced in distributed loud computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In at least one embodiment, in a distributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer system storage media including memory storage devices.

FIG. 13 illustrates a set of functional abstraction layers provided by cloud computing environment 1202 (FIG. 12 ), in accordance with at least one embodiment. It should be understood in advance that components, layers, and functions shown in FIG. 13 are intended to be illustrative only, and components, layers, and functions may vary.

In at least one embodiment, hardware and software layer 1302 includes hardware and software components. In at least one embodiment, hardware components include mainframes, various RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers, various computing systems, supercomputing systems, storage devices, networks, networking components, and/or variations thereof. In at least one embodiment, software components include network application server software, various application server software, various database software, and/or variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, virtualization layer 1304 provides an abstraction layer from which following exemplary virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers, virtual storage, virtual networks, including virtual private networks, virtual applications, virtual clients, and/or variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, management layer 1306 provides various functions. In at least one embodiment, resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computing resources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks within a cloud computing environment. In at least one embodiment, metering provides usage tracking as resources are utilized within a cloud computing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of these resources. In at least one embodiment, resources may comprise application software licenses. In at least one embodiment, security provides identity verification for users and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources. In at least one embodiment, user interface provides access to a cloud computing environment for both users and system administrators. In at least one embodiment, service level management provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such that required service levels are met. In at least one embodiment, Service Level Agreement (SLA) management provides pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated in accordance with an SLA.

In at least one embodiment, workloads layer 1308 provides functionality for which a cloud computing environment is utilized. In at least one embodiment, workloads and functions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping and navigation, software development and management, educational services, data analytics and processing, transaction processing, and service delivery.

Supercomputing

The following figures set forth, without limitation, exemplary supercomputer-based systems that can be used to implement at least one embodiment.

In at least one embodiment, a supercomputer may refer to a hardware system exhibiting substantial parallelism and comprising at least one chip, where chips in a system are interconnected by a network and are placed in hierarchically organized enclosures. In at least one embodiment, a large hardware system filling a machine room, with several racks, each containing several boards/rack modules, each containing several chips, all interconnected by a scalable network, is at least one embodiment of a supercomputer. In at least one embodiment, a single rack of such a large hardware system is at least one other embodiment of a supercomputer. In at least one embodiment, a single chip exhibiting substantial parallelism and containing several hardware components can equally be considered to be a supercomputer, since as feature sizes may decrease, an amount of hardware that can be incorporated in a single chip may also increase.

FIG. 14 illustrates a supercomputer at a chip level, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, inside an FPGA or ASIC chip, main computation is performed within finite state machines (1404) called thread units. In at least one embodiment, task and synchronization networks (1402) connect finite state machines and are used to dispatch threads and execute operations in correct order. In at least one embodiment, a multi-level partitioned on-chip cache hierarchy (1408, 1412) is accessed using memory networks (1406, 1410). In at least one embodiment, off-chip memory is accessed using memory controllers (1416) and an off-chip memory network (1414). In at least one embodiment, I/O controller (1418) is used for cross-chip communication when a design does not fit in a single logic chip.

FIG. 15 illustrates a supercomputer at a rock module level, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, within a rack module, there are multiple FPGA or ASIC chips (1502) that are connected to one or more DRAM units (1504) which constitute main accelerator memory. In at least one embodiment, each FPGA/ASIC chip is connected to its neighbor FPGA/ASIC chip using wide busses on a board, with differential high speed signaling (1506). In at least one embodiment, each FPGA/ASIC chip is also connected to at least one high-speed serial communication cable.

FIG. 16 illustrates a supercomputer at a rack level, in accordance with at least one embodiment. FIG. 17 illustrates a supercomputer at a whole system level, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, referring to FIG. 16 and FIG. 17 , between rack modules in a rack and across racks throughout an entire system, high-speed serial optical or copper cables (1602, 1702) are used to realize a scalable, possibly incomplete hypercube network. In at least one embodiment, one of FPGA/ASIC chips of an accelerator is connected to a host system through a PCI-Express connection (1704). In at least one embodiment, host system comprises a host microprocessor (1708) that a software part of an application runs on and a memory consisting of one or more host memory DRAM units (1706) that is kept coherent with memory on an accelerator. In at least one embodiment, host system can be a separate module on one of racks, or can be integrated with one of a supercomputer's modules. In at least one embodiment, cube-connected cycles topology provide communication links to create a hypercube network for a large supercomputer. In at least one embodiment, a small group of FPGA/ASIC chips on a rack module can act as a single hypercube node, such that a total number of external links of each group is increased, compared to a single chip. In at least one embodiment, a group contains chips A, B, C and D on a rack module with internal wide differential busses connecting A, B, C and D in a torus organization. In at least one embodiment, there are 12 serial communication cables connecting a rack module to an outside world. In at least one embodiment, chip A on a rack module connects to serial communication cables 0, 1, 2. In at least one embodiment, chip B connects to cables 3, 4, 5. In at least one embodiment, chip C connects to 6, 7, 8. In at least one embodiment, chip D connects to 9, 10, 11. In at least one embodiment, an entire group {A, B, C, D} constituting a rack module can form a hypercube node within a supercomputer system, with up to 212=4096 rack modules (16384 FPGA/ASIC chips). In at least one embodiment, for chip A to send a message out on link 4 of group {A, B, C, D}, a message has to be routed first to chip B with an on-board differential wide bus connection. In at least one embodiment, a message arriving into a group {A, B, C, D} on link 4 (i.e., arriving at B) destined to chip A, also has to be routed first to a correct destination chip (A) internally within a group {A, B, C, D}. In at least one embodiment, parallel supercomputer systems of other sizes may also be implemented.

Artificial Intelligence

The following figures set forth, without limitation, exemplary artificial intelligence-based systems that can be used to implement at least one embodiment.

FIG. 18A illustrates inference and/or training logic 1815 used to perform inferencing and/or training operations associated with one or more embodiments. Details regarding inference and/or training logic 1815 are provided below in conjunction with FIGS. 18A and/or 18B.

In at least one embodiment, inference and/or training logic 1815 may include, without limitation, code and/or data storage 1801 to store forward and/or output weight and/or input/output data, and/or other parameters to configure neurons or layers of a neural network trained and/or used for inferencing in aspects of one or more embodiments. In at least one embodiment, training logic 1815 may include, or be coupled to code and/or data storage 1801 to store graph code or other software to control timing and/or order, in which weight and/or other parameter information is to be loaded to configure, logic, including integer and/or floating point units (collectively, arithmetic logic units (ALUs). In at least one embodiment, code, such as graph code, loads weight or other parameter information into processor ALUs based on an architecture of a neural network to which such code corresponds. In at least one embodiment code and/or data storage 1801 stores weight parameters and/or input/output data of each layer of a neural network trained or used in conjunction with one or more embodiments during forward propagation of input/output data and/or weight parameters during training and/or inferencing using aspects of one or more embodiments. In at least one embodiment, any portion of code and/or data storage 1801 may be included with other on-chip or off-chip data storage, including a processor's L1, L2, or L3 cache or system memory.

In at least one embodiment, any portion of code and/or data storage 1801 may be internal or external to one or more processors or other hardware logic devices or circuits. In at least one embodiment, code and/or code and/or data storage 1801 may be cache memory, dynamic randomly addressable memory (“DRAM”), static randomly addressable memory (“SRAM”), non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory), or other storage. In at least one embodiment, a choice of whether code and/or code and/or data storage 1801 is internal or external to a processor, in at least one embodiment, or comprising DRAM, SRAM, flash or some other storage type may depend on available storage on-chip versus off-chip, latency requirements of training and/or inferencing functions being performed, batch size of data used in inferencing and/or training of a neural network, or some combination of these factors.

In at least one embodiment, inference and/or training logic 1815 may include, without limitation, a code and/or data storage 1805 to store backward and/or output weight and/or input/output data corresponding to neurons or layers of a neural network trained and/or used for inferencing in aspects of one or more embodiments. In at least one embodiment, code and/or data storage 1805 stores weight parameters and/or input/output data of each layer of a neural network trained or used in conjunction with one or more embodiments during backward propagation of input/output data and/or weight parameters during training and/or inferencing using aspects of one or more embodiments. In at least one embodiment, training logic 1815 may include, or be coupled to code and/or data storage 1805 to store graph code or other software to control timing and/or order, in which weight and/or other parameter information is to be loaded to configure, logic, including integer and/or floating point units (collectively, arithmetic logic units (ALUs).

In at least one embodiment, code, such as graph code, causes loading of weight or other parameter information into processor ALUs based on an architecture of a neural network to which such code corresponds. In at least one embodiment, any portion of code and/or data storage 1805 may be included with other on-chip or off-chip data storage, including a processor's L1, L2, or L3 cache or system memory. In at least one embodiment, any portion of code and/or data storage 1805 may be internal or external to one or more processors or other hardware logic devices or circuits. In at least one embodiment, code and/or data storage 1805 may be cache memory, DRAM, SRAM, non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory), or other storage. In at least one embodiment, a choice of whether code and/or data storage 1805 is internal or external to a processor, in at least one embodiment, or comprising DRAM, SRAM, flash memory or some other storage type may depend on available storage on-chip versus off-chip, latency requirements of training and/or inferencing functions being performed, batch size of data used in inferencing and/or training of a neural network, or some combination of these factors.

In at least one embodiment, code and/or data storage 1801 and code and/or data storage 1805 may be separate storage structures. In at least one embodiment, code and/or data storage 1801 and code and/or data storage 1805 may be a combined storage structure. In at least one embodiment, code and/or data storage 1801 and code and/or data storage 1805 may be partially combined and partially separate. In at least one embodiment, any portion of code and/or data storage 1801 and code and/or data storage 1805 may be included with other on-chip or off-chip data storage, including a processor's L1, L2, or L3 cache or system memory.

In at least one embodiment, inference and/or training logic 1815 may include, without limitation, one or more arithmetic logic unit(s) (“ALU(s)”) 1810, including integer and/or floating point units, to perform logical and/or mathematical operations based, at least in part on, or indicated by, training and/or inference code (e.g., graph code), a result of which may produce activations (e.g., output values from layers or neurons within a neural network) stored in an activation storage 1820 that are functions of input/output and/or weight parameter data stored in code and/or data storage 1801 and/or code and/or data storage 1805. In at least one embodiment, activations stored in activation storage 1820 are generated according to linear algebraic and or matrix-based mathematics performed by ALU(s) 1810 in response to performing instructions or other code, wherein weight values stored in code and/or data storage 1805 and/or data storage 1801 are used as operands along with other values, such as bias values, gradient information, momentum values, or other parameters or hyperparameters, any or all of which may be stored in code and/or data storage 1805 or code and/or data storage 1801 or another storage on or off-chip.

In at least one embodiment, ALU(s) 1810 are included within one or more processors or other hardware logic devices or circuits, whereas in another embodiment, ALU(s) 1810 may be external to a processor or other hardware logic device or circuit that uses them (e.g., a co-processor). In at least one embodiment, ALUs 1810 may be included within a processor's execution units or otherwise within a bank of ALUs accessible by a processor's execution units either within same processor or distributed between different processors of different types (e.g., central processing units, graphics processing units, fixed function units, etc.). In at least one embodiment, code and/or data storage 1801, code and/or data storage 1805, and activation storage 1820 may share a processor or other hardware logic device or circuit, whereas in another embodiment, they may be in different processors or other hardware logic devices or circuits, or some combination of same and different processors or other hardware logic devices or circuits. In at least one embodiment, any portion of activation storage 1820 may be included with other on-chip or off-chip data storage, including a processor's L1, L2, or L3 cache or system memory. Furthermore, inferencing and/or training code may be stored with other code accessible to a processor or other hardware logic or circuit and fetched and/or processed using a processor's fetch, decode, scheduling, execution, retirement and/or other logical circuits.

In at least one embodiment, activation storage 1820 may be cache memory, DRAM, SRAM, non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory), or other storage. In at least one embodiment, activation storage 1820 may be completely or partially within or external to one or more processors or other logical circuits. In at least one embodiment, a choice of whether activation storage 1820 is internal or external to a processor, in at least one embodiment, or comprising DRAM, SRAM, flash memory or some other storage type may depend on available storage on-chip versus off-chip, latency requirements of training and/or inferencing functions being performed, batch size of data used in inferencing and/or training of a neural network, or some combination of these factors.

In at least one embodiment, inference and/or training logic 1815 illustrated in FIG. 18A may be used in conjunction with an application-specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”), such as a TensorFlow® Processing Unit from Google, an inference processing unit (IPU) from Graphcore™, or a Nervana® (e.g., “Lake Crest”) processor from Intel Corp. In at least one embodiment, inference and/or training logic 1815 illustrated in FIG. 18A may be used in conjunction with central processing unit (“CPU”) hardware, graphics processing unit (“GPU”) hardware or other hardware, such as field programmable gate arrays (“FPGAs”).

FIG. 18B illustrates inference and/or training logic 1815, according to at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, inference and/or training logic 1815 may include, without limitation, hardware logic in which computational resources are dedicated or otherwise exclusively used in conjunction with weight values or other information corresponding to one or more layers of neurons within a neural network. In at least one embodiment, inference and/or training logic 1815 illustrated in FIG. 18B may be used in conjunction with an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), such as TensorFlow® Processing Unit from Google, an inference processing unit (IPU) from Graphcore™, or a Nervana® (e.g., “Lake Crest”) processor from Intel Corp. In at least one embodiment, inference and/or training logic 1815 illustrated in FIG. 18B may be used in conjunction with central processing unit (CPU) hardware, graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware or other hardware, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In at least one embodiment, inference and/or training logic 1815 includes, without limitation, code and/or data storage 1801 and code and/or data storage 1805, which may be used to store code (e.g., graph code), weight values and/or other information, including bias values, gradient information, momentum values, and/or other parameter or hyperparameter information. In at least one embodiment illustrated in FIG. 18B, each of code and/or data storage 1801 and code and/or data storage 1805 is associated with a dedicated computational resource, such as computational hardware 1802 and computational hardware 1806, respectively. In at least one embodiment, each of computational hardware 1802 and computational hardware 1806 comprises one or more ALUs that perform mathematical functions, such as linear algebraic functions, only on information stored in code and/or data storage 1801 and code and/or data storage 1805, respectively, result of which is stored in activation storage 1820.

In at least one embodiment, each of code and/or data storage 1801 and 1805 and corresponding computational hardware 1802 and 1806, respectively, correspond to different layers of a neural network, such that resulting activation from one storage/computational pair 1801/1802 of code and/or data storage 1801 and computational hardware 1802 is provided as an input to a next storage/computational pair 1805/1806 of code and/or data storage 1805 and computational hardware 1806, in order to mirror a conceptual organization of a neural network. In at least one embodiment, each of storage/computational pairs 1801/1802 and 1805/1806 may correspond to more than one neural network layer. In at least one embodiment, additional storage/computation pairs (not shown) subsequent to or in parallel with storage/computation pairs 1801/1802 and 1805/1806 may be included in inference and/or training logic 1815.

FIG. 19 illustrates training and deployment of a deep neural network, according to at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, untrained neural network 1906 is trained using a training dataset 1902. In at least one embodiment, training framework 1904 is a PyTorch framework, whereas in other embodiments, training framework 1904 is a TensorFlow, Boost, Caffe, Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit/CNTK, MXNet, Chainer, Keras, Deeplearning4j, or other training framework. In at least one embodiment, training framework 1904 trains an untrained neural network 1906 and enables it to be trained using processing resources described herein to generate a trained neural network 1908. In at least one embodiment, weights may be chosen randomly or by pre-training using a deep belief network. In at least one embodiment, training may be performed in either a supervised, partially supervised, or unsupervised manner.

In at least one embodiment, untrained neural network 1906 is trained using supervised learning, wherein training dataset 1902 includes an input paired with a desired output for an input, or where training dataset 1902 includes input having a known output and an output of neural network 1906 is manually graded. In at least one embodiment, untrained neural network 1906 is trained in a supervised manner and processes inputs from training dataset 1902 and compares resulting outputs against a set of expected or desired outputs. In at least one embodiment, errors are then propagated back through untrained neural network 1906. In at least one embodiment, training framework 1904 adjusts weights that control untrained neural network 1906. In at least one embodiment, training framework 1904 includes tools to monitor how well untrained neural network 1906 is converging towards a model, such as trained neural network 1908, suitable to generating correct answers, such as in result 1914, based on input data such as a new dataset 1912. In at least one embodiment, training framework 1904 trains untrained neural network 1906 repeatedly while adjust weights to refine an output of untrained neural network 1906 using a loss function and adjustment algorithm, such as stochastic gradient descent. In at least one embodiment, training framework 1904 trains untrained neural network 1906 until untrained neural network 1906 achieves a desired accuracy. In at least one embodiment, trained neural network 1908 can then be deployed to implement any number of machine learning operations.

In at least one embodiment, untrained neural network 1906 is trained using unsupervised learning, wherein untrained neural network 1906 attempts to train itself using unlabeled data. In at least one embodiment, unsupervised learning training dataset 1902 will include input data without any associated output data or “ground truth” data. In at least one embodiment, untrained neural network 1906 can learn groupings within training dataset 1902 and can determine how individual inputs are related to untrained dataset 1902. In at least one embodiment, unsupervised training can be used to generate a self-organizing map in trained neural network 1908 capable of performing operations useful in reducing dimensionality of new dataset 1912. In at least one embodiment, unsupervised training can also be used to perform anomaly detection, which allows identification of data points in new dataset 1912 that deviate from normal patterns of new dataset 1912.

In at least one embodiment, semi-supervised learning may be used, which is a technique in which in training dataset 1902 includes a mix of labeled and unlabeled data. In at least one embodiment, training framework 1904 may be used to perform incremental learning, such as through transferred learning techniques. In at least one embodiment, incremental learning enables trained neural network 1908 to adapt to new dataset 1912 without forgetting knowledge instilled within trained neural network 1408 during initial training.

The following figures set forth, without limitation, exemplary 5G network-based systems that can be used to implement at least one embodiment.

FIG. 20 illustrates an architecture of a system 2000 of a network, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, system 2000 is shown to include a user equipment (UE) 2002 and a UE 2004. In at least one embodiment, UEs 2002 and 2004 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks) but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

In at least one embodiment, any of UEs 2002 and 2004 can comprise an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. In at least one embodiment, an IoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. In at least one embodiment, a M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. In at least one embodiment, an IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. In at least one embodiment, an IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connections of an IoT network.

In at least one embodiment, UEs 2002 and 2004 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) 2016. In at least one embodiment, RAN 2016 may be, in at least one embodiment, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. In at least one embodiment, UEs 2002 and 2004 utilize connections 2012 and 2014, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer. In at least one embodiment, connections 2012 and 2014 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, UEs 2002 and 2004 may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 2006. In at least one embodiment, ProSe interface 2006 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

In at least one embodiment, UE 2004 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 2010 via connection 2008. In at least one embodiment, connection 2008 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 2010 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In at least one embodiment, AP 2010 is shown to be connected to an Internet without connecting to a core network of a wireless system.

In at least one embodiment, RAN 2016 can include one or more access nodes that enable connections 2012 and 2014. In at least one embodiment, these access nodes (ANs) can be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). In at least one embodiment, RAN 2016 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node 2018, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 2020.

In at least one embodiment, any of RAN nodes 2018 and 2020 can terminate an air interface protocol and can be a first point of contact for UEs 2002 and 2004. In at least one embodiment, any of RAN nodes 2018 and 2020 can fulfill various logical functions for RAN 2016 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

In at least one embodiment, UEs 2002 and 2004 can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of RAN nodes 2018 and 2020 over a multi-carrier communication channel in accordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), and/or variations thereof. In at least one embodiment, OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal sub-carriers.

In at least one embodiment, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of RAN nodes 2018 and 2020 to UEs 2002 and 2004, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. In at least one embodiment, a grid can be a time frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in a downlink in each slot. In at least one embodiment, such a time frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. In at least one embodiment, each column and each row of a resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. In at least one embodiment, a duration of a resource grid in a time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. In at least one embodiment, a smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. In at least one embodiment, each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe a mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. In at least one embodiment, each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements. In at least one embodiment, in a frequency domain, this may represent a smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. In at least one embodiment, there are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

In at least one embodiment, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to UEs 2002 and 2004. In at least one embodiment, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about a transport format and resource allocations related to PDSCH channel, among other things. In at least one embodiment, it may also inform UEs 2002 and 2004 about a transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to an uplink shared channel. In at least one embodiment, typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to UE 2002 within a cell) may be performed at any of RAN nodes 2018 and 2020 based on channel quality information fed back from any of UEs 2002 and 2004. In at least one embodiment, downlink resource assignment information may be sent on a PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of UEs 2002 and 2004.

In at least one embodiment, a PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey control information. In at least one embodiment, before being mapped to resource elements, PDCCH complex valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. In at least one embodiment, each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). In at least one embodiment, four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. In at least one embodiment, PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on a size of a downlink control information (DCI) and a channel condition. In at least one embodiment, there can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

In at least one embodiment, an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources may be utilized for control information transmission. In at least one embodiment, EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs). In at least one embodiment, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). In at least one embodiment, an ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

In at least one embodiment, RAN 2016 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 2038 via an S1 interface 2022. In at least one embodiment, CN 2038 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In at least one embodiment, S1 interface 2022 is split into two parts: S1-U interface 2026, which carries traffic data between RAN nodes 2018 and 2020 and serving gateway (S-GW) 2030, and a S1-mobility management entity (MME) interface 2024, which is a signaling interface between RAN nodes 2018 and 2020 and MMEs 2028.

In at least one embodiment, CN 2038 comprises MMES 2028, S-GW 2030, Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 2034, and a home subscriber server (HSS) 2032. In at least one embodiment, MMES 2028 may be similar in function to a control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). In at least one embodiment, MMES 2028 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. In at least one embodiment, HSS 2032 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription related information to support a network entities' handling of communication sessions. In at least one embodiment, CN 2038 may comprise one or several HSSs 2032, depending on a number of mobile subscribers, on a capacity of an equipment, on an organization of a network, etc. In at least one embodiment, HSS 2032 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

In at least one embodiment, S-GW 2030 may terminate a S1 interface 2022 towards RAN 2016, and routes data packets between RAN 2016 and CN 2038. In at least one embodiment, S-GW 2030 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. In at least one embodiment, other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

In at least one embodiment, P-GW 2034 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. In at least one embodiment, P-GW 2034 may route data packets between an EPC network 2038 and external networks such as a network including application server 2040 (alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 2042. In at least one embodiment, application server 2040 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with a core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In at least one embodiment, P-GW 2034 is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server 2040 via an IP communications interface 2042. In at least one embodiment, application server 2040 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for UEs 2002 and 2004 via CN 2038.

In at least one embodiment, P-GW 2034 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. In at least one embodiment, policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 2036 is a policy and charging control element of CN 2038. In at least one embodiment, in a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in a Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In at least one embodiment, in a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). In at least one embodiment, PCRF 2036 may be communicatively coupled to application server 2040 via P-GW 2034. In at least one embodiment, application server 2040 may signal PCRF 2036 to indicate a new service flow and select an appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. In at least one embodiment, PCRF 2036 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with an appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences a QoS and charging as specified by application server 2040.

FIG. 21 illustrates an architecture of a system 2100 of a network in accordance with some embodiments. In at least one embodiment, system 2100 is shown to include a UE 2102, a 5G access node or RAN node (shown as (R)AN node 2108), a User Plane Function (shown as UPF 2104), a Data Network (DN 2106), which may be, in at least one embodiment, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services, and a 5G Core Network (5GC) (shown as CN 2110).

In at least one embodiment, CN 2110 includes an Authentication Server Function (AUSF 2114); a Core Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF 2112); a Session Management Function (SMF 2118); a Network Exposure Function (NEF 2116); a Policy Control Function (PCF 2122); a Network Function (NF) Repository Function (NRF 2120); a Unified Data Management (UDM 2124); and an Application Function (AF 2126). In at least one embodiment, CN 2110 may also include other elements that are not shown, such as a Structured Data Storage network function (SDSF), an Unstructured Data Storage network function (UDSF), and variations thereof.

In at least one embodiment, UPF 2104 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN 2106, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. In at least one embodiment, UPF 2104 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, enforce user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection); traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for user plane (e.g. packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. In at least one embodiment, UPF 2104 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. In at least one embodiment, DN 2106 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services.

In at least one embodiment, AUSF 2114 may store data for authentication of UE 2102 and handle authentication related functionality. In at least one embodiment, AUSF 2114 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types.

In at least one embodiment, AMF 2112 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering UE 2102, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. In at least one embodiment, AMF 2112 may provide transport for SM messages for SMF 2118, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. In at least one embodiment, AMF 2112 may also provide transport for short message service (SMS) messages between UE 2102 and an SMS function (SMSF) (not shown by FIG. 21 ). In at least one embodiment, AMF 2112 may act as Security Anchor Function (SEA), which may include interaction with AUSF 2114 and UE 2102 and receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a result of UE 2102 authentication process. In at least one embodiment, where USIM based authentication is used, AMF 2112 may retrieve security material from AUSF 2114. In at least one embodiment, AMF 2112 may also include a Security Context Management (SCM) function, which receives a key from SEA that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. In at least one embodiment, furthermore, AMF 2112 may be a termination point of RAN CP interface (N2 reference point), a termination point of NAS (NI) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection.

In at least one embodiment, AMF 2112 may also support NAS signaling with a UE 2102 over an N3 interworking-function (IWF) interface. In at least one embodiment, N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. In at least one embodiment, N3IWF may be a termination point for N2 and N3 interfaces for control plane and user plane, respectively, and as such, may handle N2 signaling from SMF and AMF for PDU sessions and QoS, encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunneling, mark N3 user-plane packets in uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3 packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated to such marking received over N2. In at least one embodiment, N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control-plane NAS (NI) signaling between UE 2102 and AMF 2112, and relay uplink and downlink user-plane packets between UE 2102 and UPF 2104. In at least one embodiment, N3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with UE 2102.

In at least one embodiment, SMF 2118 may be responsible for session management (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation & management (including optional Authorization); Selection and control of UP function; Configures traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces towards Policy control functions; control part of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI System); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink Data Notification; initiator of AN specific SM information, sent via AMF over N2 to AN; determine SSC mode of a session. In at least one embodiment, SMF 2118 may include following roaming functionality: handle local enforcement to apply QoS SLAB (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI System); support for interaction with external DN for transport of signaling for PDU session authorization/ authentication by external DN.

In at least one embodiment, NEF 2116 may provide means for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF 2126), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In at least one embodiment, NEF 2116 may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle AFs. In at least one embodiment, NEF 2116 may also translate information exchanged with AF 2126 and information exchanged with internal network functions. In at least one embodiment, NEF 2116 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. In at least one embodiment, NEF 2116 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other network functions. In at least one embodiment, this information may be stored at NEF 2116 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using a standardized interfaces. In at least one embodiment, stored information can then be re-exposed by NEF 2116 to other NFs and AFs, and/or used for other purposes such as analytics.

In at least one embodiment, NRF 2120 may support service discovery functions, receive NF Discovery Requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to NF instances. In at least one embodiment, NRF 2120 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services.

In at least one embodiment, PCF 2122 may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. In at least one embodiment, PCF 2122 may also implement a front end (FE) to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of UDM 2124.

In at least one embodiment, UDM 2124 may handle subscription-related information to support a network entities' handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 2102. In at least one embodiment, UDM 2124 may include two parts, an application FE and a User Data Repository (UDR). In at least one embodiment, UDM may include a UDM FE, which is in charge of processing of credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. In at least one embodiment, several different front ends may serve a same user in different transactions. In at least one embodiment, UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in an UDR and performs authentication credential processing; user identification handling; access authorization; registration/mobility management; and subscription management. In at least one embodiment, UDR may interact with PCF 2122. In at least one embodiment, UDM 2124 may also support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements a similar application logic as discussed previously.

In at least one embodiment, AF 2126 may provide application influence on traffic routing, access to a Network Capability Exposure (NCE), and interact with a policy framework for policy control. In at least one embodiment, NCE may be a mechanism that allows a 5GC and AF 2126 to provide information to each other via NEF 2116, which may be used for edge computing implementations. In at least one embodiment, network operator and third party services may be hosted close to UE 2102 access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service delivery through a reduced end-to-end latency and load on a transport network. In at least one embodiment, for edge computing implementations, 5GC may select a UPF 2104 close to UE 2102 and execute traffic steering from UPF 2104 to DN 2106 via N6 interface. In at least one embodiment, this may be based on UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by AF 2126. In at least one embodiment, AF 2126 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. In at least one embodiment, based on operator deployment, when AF 2126 is considered to be a trusted entity, a network operator may permit AF 2126 to interact directly with relevant NFs.

In at least one embodiment, CN 2110 may include an SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to/from UE 2102 to/from other entities, such as an SMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. In at least one embodiment, SMS may also interact with AMF 2112 and UDM 2124 for notification procedure that UE 2102 is available for SMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM 2124 when UE 2102 is available for SMS).

In at least one embodiment, system 2100 may include following service-based interfaces: Namf: Service-based interface exhibited by AMF; Nsmf: Service-based interface exhibited by S1VIF; Nnef: Service-based interface exhibited by NEF; Npcf: Service-based interface exhibited by PCF; Nudm: Service-based interface exhibited by UDM; Naf: Service-based interface exhibited by AF; Nnrf: Service-based interface exhibited by NRF; and Nausf: Service-based interface exhibited by AUSF.

In at least one embodiment, system 2100 may include following reference points: N1: Reference point between UE and AMF; N2: Reference point between (R)AN and AMF; N3: Reference point between (R)AN and UPF; N4: Reference point between SMF and UPF; and N6: Reference point between UPF and a Data Network. In at least one embodiment, there may be many more reference points and/or service-based interfaces between a NF services in NFs, however, these interfaces and reference points have been omitted for clarity. In at least one embodiment, an NS reference point may be between a PCF and AF; an N7 reference point may be between PCF and S1VIF; an N11 reference point between AMF and SMF; etc. In at least one embodiment, CN 2110 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between MME and AMF 2112 in order to enable interworking between CN 2110 and CN 7221.

In at least one embodiment, system 2100 may include multiple RAN nodes (such as (R)AN node 2108) wherein an Xn interface is defined between two or more (R)AN node 2108 (e.g., gNBs) that connecting to 5GC 410, between a (R)AN node 2108 (e.g., gNB) connecting to CN 2110 and an eNB (e.g., a macro RAN node), and/or between two eNBs connecting to CN 2110.

In at least one embodiment, Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. In at least one embodiment, Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality. In at least one embodiment, Xn-C may provide management and error handling functionality, functionality to manage a Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE 2102 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage UE mobility for connected mode between one or more (R)AN node 2108. In at least one embodiment, mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving (R)AN node 2108 to new (target) serving (R)AN node 2108; and control of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving (R)AN node 2108 to new (target) serving (R)AN node 2108.

In at least one embodiment, a protocol stack of a Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. In at least one embodiment, Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that is built on an SCTP layer. In at least one embodiment, SCTP layer may be on top of an IP layer. In at least one embodiment, SCTP layer provides a guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In at least one embodiment, in a transport IP layer point-to-point transmission is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In at least one embodiment, Xn-U protocol stack and/or a Xn-C protocol stack may be same or similar to an user plane and/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.

FIG. 22 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In at least one embodiment, a control plane 2200 is shown as a communications protocol stack between UE 2002 (or alternatively, UE 2004), RAN 2016, and MME(s) 2028.

In at least one embodiment, PHY layer 2202 may transmit or receive information used by MAC layer 2204 over one or more air interfaces. In at least one embodiment, PHY layer 2202 may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as an RRC layer 2210. In at least one embodiment, PHY layer 2202 may still further perform error detection on transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/de-coding of transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing.

In at least one embodiment, MAC layer 2204 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units (SDUs) from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from PHY via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARD), and logical channel prioritization.

In at least one embodiment, RLC layer 2206 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). In at least one embodiment, RLC layer 2206 may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. In at least one embodiment, RLC layer 2206 may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment.

In at least one embodiment, PDCP layer 2208 may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

In at least one embodiment, main services and functions of a RRC layer 2210 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in Master Information Blocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIBs) related to a non-access stratum (NAS)), broadcast of system information related to an access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between an UE and E-UTRAN (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. In at least one embodiment, said MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more information elements (IEs), which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures.

In at least one embodiment, UE 2002 and RAN 2016 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising PHY layer 2202, MAC layer 2204, RLC layer 2206, PDCP layer 2208, and RRC layer 2210.

In at least one embodiment, non-access stratum (NAS) protocols (NAS protocols 2212) form a highest stratum of a control plane between UE 2002 and MME(s) 2028. In at least one embodiment, NAS protocols 2212 support mobility of UE 2002 and session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between UE 2002 and P-GW 2034.

In at least one embodiment, Si Application Protocol (S1-AP) layer (Si-AP layer 2222) may support functions of a Si interface and comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). In at least one embodiment, an EP is a unit of interaction between RAN 2016 and CN 2028. In at least one embodiment, S1-AP layer services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services and non UE-associated services. In at least one embodiment, these services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

In at least one embodiment, Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (alternatively referred to as a stream control transmission protocol/internet protocol (SCTP/IP) layer) (SCTP layer 2220) may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between RAN 2016 and MME(s) 2028 based, in part, on an IP protocol, supported by an IP layer 2218. In at least one embodiment, L2 layer 2216 and an L1 layer 2214 may refer to communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) used by a RAN node and MME to exchange information.

In at least one embodiment, RAN 2016 and MME(s) 2028 may utilize an Si -MME interface to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising a L1 layer 2214, L2 layer 2216, IP layer 2218, SCTP layer 2220, and Si -AP layer 2222.

FIG. 23 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, a user plane 2300 is shown as a communications protocol stack between a UE 2002, RAN 2016, S-GW 2030, and P-GW 2034. In at least one embodiment, user plane 2300 may utilize a same protocol layers as control plane 2200. In at least one embodiment, UE 2002 and RAN 2016 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising PHY layer 2202, MAC layer 2204, RLC layer 2206, PDCP layer 2208.

In at least one embodiment, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for a user plane (GTP-U) layer (GTP-U layer 2304) may be used for carrying user data within a GPRS core network and between a radio access network and a core network. In at least one embodiment, user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats. In at least one embodiment, UDP and IP security (UDP/IP) layer (UDP/IP layer 2302) may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at a source and destination, and encryption and authentication on selected data flows. In at least one embodiment, RAN 2016 and S-GW 2030 may utilize an Si -U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising L1 layer 2214, L2 layer 2216, UDP/IP layer 2302, and GTP-U layer 2304. In at least one embodiment, S-GW 2030 and P-GW 2034 may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising L1 layer 2214, L2 layer 2216, UDP/IP layer 2302, and GTP-U layer 2304. In at least one embodiment, as discussed above with respect to FIG. 22 , NAS protocols support a mobility of UE 2002 and session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between UE 2002 and P-GW 2034.

FIG. 24 illustrates components 2400 of a core network in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, components of CN 2038 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In at least one embodiment, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is utilized to virtualize any or all of above described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). In at least one embodiment, a logical instantiation of CN 2038 may be referred to as a network slice 2402 (e.g., network slice 2402 is shown to include HSS 2032, MME(s) 2028, and S-GW 2030). In at least one embodiment, a logical instantiation of a portion of CN 2038 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 2404 (e.g., network sub-slice 2404 is shown to include P-GW 2034 and PCRF 2036).

In at least one embodiment, NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In at least one embodiment, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to at least one embodiment, of a system 2500 to support network function virtualization (NFV). In at least one embodiment, system 2500 is illustrated as including a virtualized infrastructure manager (shown as VIM 2502), a network function virtualization infrastructure (shown as NFVI 2504), a VNF manager (shown as VNFM 2506), virtualized network functions (shown as VNF 2508), an element manager (shown as EM 2510), an NFV Orchestrator (shown as NFVO 2512), and a network manager (shown as NM 2514).

In at least one embodiment, VIM 2502 manages resources of NFVI 2504. In at least one embodiment, NFVI 2504 can include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) used to execute system 2500. In at least one embodiment, VIM 2502 may manage a life cycle of virtual resources with NFVI 2504 (e.g., creation, maintenance, and tear down of virtual machines (VMs) associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems.

In at least one embodiment, VNFM 2506 may manage VNF 2508. In at least one embodiment, VNF 2508 may be used to execute EPC components/functions. In at least one embodiment, VNFM 2506 may manage a life cycle of VNF 2508 and track performance, fault and security of virtual aspects of VNF 2508. In at least one embodiment, EM 2510 may track performance, fault and security of functional aspects of VNF 2508. In at least one embodiment, tracking data from VNFM 2506 and EM 2510 may comprise, in at least one embodiment, performance measurement (PM) data used by VIM 2502 or NFVI 2504. In at least one embodiment, both VNFM 2506 and EM 2510 can scale up/down a quantity of VNFs of system 2500.

In at least one embodiment, NFVO 2512 may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources of NFVI 2504 in order to provide a requested service (e.g., to execute an EPC function, component, or slice). In at least one embodiment, NM 2514 may provide a package of end-user functions with responsibility for a management of a network, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of VNFs may occur via an EM 2510).

Computer-Based Systems

The following figures set forth, without limitation, exemplary computer-based systems that can be used to implement at least one embodiment.

FIG. 26 illustrates a processing system 2600, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, processing system 2600 includes one or more processors 2602 and one or more graphics processors 2608, and may be a single processor desktop system, a multiprocessor workstation system, or a server system having a large number of processors 2602 or processor cores 2607. In at least one embodiment, processing system 2600 is a processing platform incorporated within a system-on-a-chip (“Sort”) integrated circuit for use in mobile, handheld, or embedded devices.

In at least one embodiment, processing system 2600 can include, or be incorporated within a server-based gaming platform, a game console, a media console, a mobile gaming console, a handheld game console, or an online game console. In at least one embodiment, processing system 2600 is a mobile phone, smart phone, tablet computing device or mobile Internet device. In at least one embodiment, processing system 2600 can also include, couple with, or be integrated within a wearable device, such as a smart watch wearable device, smart eyewear device, augmented reality device, or virtual reality device. In at least one embodiment, processing system 2600 is a television or set top box device having one or more processors 2602 and a graphical interface generated by one or more graphics processors 2608.

In at least one embodiment, one or more processors 2602 each include one or more processor cores 2607 to process instructions which, when executed, perform operations for system and user software. In at least one embodiment, each of one or more processor cores 2607 is configured to process a specific instruction set 2609. In at least one embodiment, instruction set 2609 may facilitate Complex Instruction Set Computing (“CISC”), Reduced Instruction Set Computing (“RISC”), or computing via a Very Long Instruction Word (“VLIW”). In at least one embodiment, processor cores 2607 may each process a different instruction set 2609, which may include instructions to facilitate emulation of other instruction sets. In at least one embodiment, processor core 2607 may also include other processing devices, such as a digital signal processor (“DSP”).

In at least one embodiment, processor 2602 includes cache memory (cache“) 2604. In at least one embodiment, processor 2602 can have a single internal cache or multiple levels of internal cache. In at least one embodiment, cache memory is shared among various components of processor 2602. In at least one embodiment, processor 2602 also uses an external cache (e.g., a Level 3 (”L3″) cache or Last Level Cache (“LLC”)) (not shown), which may be shared among processor cores 2607 using known cache coherency techniques. In at least one embodiment, register file 2606 is additionally included in processor 2602 which may include different types of registers for storing different types of data (e.g., integer registers, floating point registers, status registers, and an instruction pointer register). In at least one embodiment, register file 2606 may include general-purpose registers or other registers.

In at least one embodiment, one or more processor(s) 2602 are coupled with one or more interface bus(es) 2610 to transmit communication signals such as address, data, or control signals between processor 2602 and other components in processing system 2600. In at least one embodiment interface bus 2610, in one embodiment, can be a processor bus, such as a version of a Direct Media Interface (“DMI”) bus. In at least one embodiment, interface bus 2610 is not limited to a DMI bus, and may include one or more Peripheral Component Interconnect buses (e.g., “PCI,” PCI Express (“PCIe”)), memory buses, or other types of interface buses. In at least one embodiment processor(s) 2602 include an integrated memory controller 2616 and a platform controller hub 2630. In at least one embodiment, memory controller 2616 facilitates communication between a memory device and other components of processing system 2600, while platform controller hub (“PCH”) 2630 provides connections to Input/Output (“I/O”) devices via a local I/O bus.

In at least one embodiment, memory device 2620 can be a dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”) device, a static random access memory (“SRAM”) device, flash memory device, phase-change memory device, or some other memory device having suitable performance to serve as processor memory. In at least one embodiment memory device 2620 can operate as system memory for processing system 2600, to store data 2622 and instructions 2621 for use when one or more processors 2602 executes an application or process. In at least one embodiment, memory controller 2616 also couples with an optional external graphics processor 2612, which may communicate with one or more graphics processors 2608 in processors 2602 to perform graphics and media operations. In at least one embodiment, a display device 2611 can connect to processor(s) 2602. In at least one embodiment display device 2611 can include one or more of an internal display device, as in a mobile electronic device or a laptop device or an external display device attached via a display interface (e.g., DisplayPort, etc.). In at least one embodiment, display device 2611 can include a head mounted display (“HIVID”) such as a stereoscopic display device for use in virtual reality (“VR”) applications or augmented reality (“AR”) applications.

In at least one embodiment, platform controller hub 2630 enables peripherals to connect to memory device 2620 and processor 2602 via a high-speed I/O bus. In at least one embodiment, I/O peripherals include, but are not limited to, an audio controller 2646, a network controller 2634, a firmware interface 2628, a wireless transceiver 2626, touch sensors 2625, a data storage device 2624 (e.g., hard disk drive, flash memory, etc.). In at least one embodiment, data storage device 2624 can connect via a storage interface (e.g., SATA) or via a peripheral bus, such as PCI, or PCIe. In at least one embodiment, touch sensors 2625 can include touch screen sensors, pressure sensors, or fingerprint sensors. In at least one embodiment, wireless transceiver 2626 can be a Wi-Fi transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, or a mobile network transceiver such as a 3G, 4G, or Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) transceiver. In at least one embodiment, firmware interface 2628 enables communication with system firmware, and can be, in at least one embodiment, a unified extensible firmware interface (“UEFI”). In at least one embodiment, network controller 2634 can enable a network connection to a wired network. In at least one embodiment, a high-performance network controller (not shown) couples with interface bus 2610. In at least one embodiment, audio controller 2646 is a multi-channel high definition audio controller. In at least one embodiment, processing system 2600 includes an optional legacy I/O controller 2640 for coupling legacy (e.g., Personal System 2 (“PS/2”)) devices to processing system 2600. In at least one embodiment, platform controller hub 2630 can also connect to one or more Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) controllers 2642 connect input devices, such as keyboard and mouse 2643 combinations, a camera 2644, or other USB input devices.

In at least one embodiment, an instance of memory controller 2616 and platform controller hub 2630 may be integrated into a discreet external graphics processor, such as external graphics processor 2612. In at least one embodiment, platform controller hub 2630 and/or memory controller 2616 may be external to one or more processor(s) 2602. In at least one embodiment, processing system 2600 can include an external memory controller 2616 and platform controller hub 2630, which may be configured as a memory controller hub and peripheral controller hub within a system chipset that is in communication with processor(s) 2602.

FIG. 27 illustrates a computer system 2700, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, computer system 2700 may be a system with interconnected devices and components, an SOC, or some combination. In at least on embodiment, computer system 2700 is formed with a processor 2702 that may include execution units to execute an instruction. In at least one embodiment, computer system 2700 may include, without limitation, a component, such as processor 2702 to employ execution units including logic to perform algorithms for processing data. In at least one embodiment, computer system 2700 may include processors, such as PENTIUM® Processor family, Xeon™, Itanium®, XScale™ and/or StrongARM™, Intel® Core™, or Intel® Nervana™ microprocessors available from Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif., although other systems (including PCs having other microprocessors, engineering workstations, set-top boxes and like) may also be used. In at least one embodiment, computer system 2700 may execute a version of WINDOWS' operating system available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., although other operating systems (UNIX and Linux in at least one embodiment), embedded software, and/or graphical user interfaces, may also be used.

In at least one embodiment, computer system 2700 may be used in other devices such as handheld devices and embedded applications. Some ones of the at least one embodiments of handheld devices include cellular phones, Internet Protocol devices, digital cameras, personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), and handheld PCs. In at least one embodiment, embedded applications may include a microcontroller, a digital signal processor (DSP), an SoC, network computers (“NetPCs”), set-top boxes, network hubs, wide area network (“WAN”) switches, or any other system that may perform one or more instructions.

In at least one embodiment, computer system 2700 may include, without limitation, processor 2702 that may include, without limitation, one or more execution units 2708 that may be configured to execute a Compute Unified Device Architecture (“CUDA”) (CUDA® is developed by NVIDIA Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif.) program. In at least one embodiment, a CUDA program is at least a portion of a software application written in a CUDA programming language. In at least one embodiment, computer system 2700 is a single processor desktop or server system. In at least one embodiment, computer system 2700 may be a multiprocessor system. In at least one embodiment, processor 2702 may include, without limitation, a CISC microprocessor, a RISC microprocessor, a VLIW microprocessor, a processor implementing a combination of instruction sets, or any other processor device, such as a digital signal processor, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, processor 2702 may be coupled to a processor bus 2710 that may transmit data signals between processor 2702 and other components in computer system 2700.

In at least one embodiment, processor 2702 may include, without limitation, a Level 1 (“L1”) internal cache memory (“cache”) 2704. In at least one embodiment, processor 2702 may have a single internal cache or multiple levels of internal cache. In at least one embodiment, cache memory may reside external to processor 2702. In at least one embodiment, processor 2702 may also include a combination of both internal and external caches. In at least one embodiment, a register file 2706 may store different types of data in various registers including, without limitation, integer registers, floating point registers, status registers, and instruction pointer register.

In at least one embodiment, execution unit 2708, including, without limitation, logic to perform integer and floating point operations, also resides in processor 2702. Processor 2702 may also include a microcode (“ucode”) read only memory (“ROM”) that stores microcode for certain macro instructions. In at least one embodiment, execution unit 2708 may include logic to handle a packed instruction set 2709. In at least one embodiment, by including packed instruction set 2709 in an instruction set of a general-purpose processor 2702, along with associated circuitry to execute instructions, operations used by many multimedia applications may be performed using packed data in a general-purpose processor 2702. In at least one embodiment, many multimedia applications may be accelerated and executed more efficiently by using full width of a processor's data bus for performing operations on packed data, which may eliminate a need to transfer smaller units of data across a processor's data bus to perform one or more operations one data element at a time.

In at least one embodiment, execution unit 2708 may also be used in microcontrollers, embedded processors, graphics devices, DSPs, and other types of logic circuits. In at least one embodiment, computer system 2700 may include, without limitation, a memory 2720. In at least one embodiment, memory 2720 may be implemented as a DRAM device, an SRAM device, flash memory device, or other memory device. Memory 2720 may store instruction(s) 2719 and/or data 2721 represented by data signals that may be executed by processor 2702.

In at least one embodiment, a system logic chip may be coupled to processor bus 2710 and memory 2720. In at least one embodiment, a system logic chip may include, without limitation, a memory controller hub (“MCH”) 2716, and processor 2702 may communicate with MCH 2716 via processor bus 2710. In at least one embodiment, MCH 2716 may provide a high bandwidth memory path 2718 to memory 2720 for instruction and data storage and for storage of graphics commands, data and textures. In at least one embodiment, MCH 2716 may direct data signals between processor 2702, memory 2720, and other components in computer system 2700 and to bridge data signals between processor bus 2710, memory 2720, and a system I/O 2722. In at least one embodiment, system logic chip may provide a graphics port for coupling to a graphics controller. In at least one embodiment, MCH 2716 may be coupled to memory 2720 through high bandwidth memory path 2718 and graphics/video card 2712 may be coupled to MCH 2716 through an Accelerated Graphics Port (“AGP”) interconnect 2714.

In at least one embodiment, computer system 2700 may use system I/O 2722 that is a proprietary hub interface bus to couple MCH 2716 to I/O controller hub (“ICH”) 2730. In at least one embodiment, ICH 2730 may provide direct connections to some I/O devices via a local I/O bus. In at least one embodiment, local I/O bus may include, without limitation, a high-speed I/O bus for connecting peripherals to memory 2720, a chipset, and processor 2702. Examples may include, without limitation, an audio controller 2729, a firmware hub (“flash BIOS”) 2728, a wireless transceiver 2726, a data storage 2724, a legacy I/O controller 2723 containing a user input interface 2725 and a keyboard interface, a serial expansion port 2777, such as a USB, and a network controller 2734. Data storage 2724 may comprise a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM device, a flash memory device, or other mass storage device.

In at least one embodiment, FIG. 27 illustrates a system, which includes interconnected hardware devices or “chips.” In at least one embodiment, FIG. 27 may illustrate an exemplary SoC. In at least one embodiment, devices illustrated in FIG. 27 may be interconnected with proprietary interconnects, standardized interconnects (e.g., PCIe), or some combination thereof. In at least one embodiment, one or more components of system 2700 are interconnected using compute express link (“CXL”) interconnects.

FIG. 28 illustrates a system 2800, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, system 2800 is an electronic device that utilizes a processor 2810. In at least one embodiment, system 2800 may be, in at least one embodiment and without limitation, a notebook, a tower server, a rack server, a blade server, a laptop, a desktop, a tablet, a mobile device, a phone, an embedded computer, or any other suitable electronic device.

In at least one embodiment, system 2800 may include, without limitation, processor 2810 communicatively coupled to any suitable number or kind of components, peripherals, modules, or devices. In at least one embodiment, processor 2810 is coupled using a bus or interface, such as an I2C bus, a System Management Bus (“SMBus”), a Low Pin Count (“LPC”) bus, a Serial Peripheral Interface (“SPI”), a High Definition Audio (“HDA”) bus, a Serial Advance Technology Attachment (“SATA”) bus, a USB (versions 1, 2, 3), or a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (“UART”) bus. In at least one embodiment, FIG. 28 illustrates a system which includes interconnected hardware devices or “chips.” In at least one embodiment, FIG. 28 may illustrate an exemplary SoC. In at least one embodiment, devices illustrated in FIG. 28 may be interconnected with proprietary interconnects, standardized interconnects (e.g., PCIe) or some combination thereof. In at least one embodiment, one or more components of FIG. 28 are interconnected using CXL interconnects.

In at least one embodiment, FIG. 28 may include a display 2824, a touch screen 2825, a touch pad 2830, a Near Field Communications unit (“NFC”) 2845, a sensor hub 2840, a thermal sensor 2846, an Express Chipset (“EC”) 2835, a Trusted Platform Module (“TPM”) 2838, BIOS/firmware/flash memory (“BIOS, FW Flash”) 2822, a DSP 2860, a Solid State Disk (“SSD”) or Hard Disk Drive (“HDD”) 2820, a wireless local area network unit (“WLAN”) 2850, a Bluetooth unit 2852, a Wireless Wide Area Network unit (“WWAN”) 2856, a Global Positioning System (“GPS”) 2855, a camera (“USB 3.0 camera”) 2854 such as a USB 3.0 camera, or a Low Power Double Data Rate (“LPDDR”) memory unit (“LPDDR3”) 2815 implemented, in at least one embodiment, LPDDR3 standard. These components may each be implemented in any suitable manner.

In at least one embodiment, other components may be communicatively coupled to processor 2810 through components discussed above. In at least one embodiment, an accelerometer 2841, an Ambient Light Sensor (“ALS”) 2842, a compass 2843, and a gyroscope 2844 may be communicatively coupled to sensor hub 2840. In at least one embodiment, a thermal sensor 2839, a fan 2837, a keyboard 2846, and a touch pad 2830 may be communicatively coupled to EC 2835. In at least one embodiment, a speaker 2863, a headphones 2864, and a microphone (“mic”) 2865 may be communicatively coupled to an audio unit (“audio codec and class d amp”) 2864, which may in turn be communicatively coupled to DSP 2860. In at least one embodiment, audio unit 2864 may include, without limitation, an audio coder/decoder (“codec”) and a class D amplifier. In at least one embodiment, a SIM card (“SIM”) 2857 may be communicatively coupled to WWAN unit 2856. In at least one embodiment, components such as WLAN unit 2850 and Bluetooth unit 2852, as well as WWAN unit 2856 may be implemented in a Next Generation Form Factor (“NGFF”).

FIG. 29 illustrates an exemplary integrated circuit 2900, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, exemplary integrated circuit 2900 is an SoC that may be fabricated using one or more IP cores. In at least one embodiment, integrated circuit 2900 includes one or more application processor(s) 2905 (e.g., CPUs), at least one graphics processor 2910, and may additionally include an image processor 2915 and/or a video processor 2920, any of which may be a modular IP core. In at least one embodiment, integrated circuit 2900 includes peripheral or bus logic including a USB controller 2925, a UART controller 2930, an SPI/SDIO controller 2935, and an I2S/I2C controller 2940. In at least one embodiment, integrated circuit 2900 can include a display device 2945 coupled to one or more of a high-definition multimedia interface (“HDMI”) controller 2950 and a mobile industry processor interface (“MIPI”) display interface 2955. In at least one embodiment, storage may be provided by a flash memory subsystem 2960 including flash memory and a flash memory controller. In at least one embodiment, a memory interface may be provided via a memory controller 2965 for access to SDRAM or SRAM memory devices. In at least one embodiment, some integrated circuits additionally include an embedded security engine 2970.

FIG. 30 illustrates a computing system 3000, according to at least one embodiment; In at least one embodiment, computing system 3000 includes a processing subsystem 3001 having one or more processor(s) 3002 and a system memory 3004 communicating via an interconnection path that may include a memory hub 3005. In at least one embodiment, memory hub 3005 may be a separate component within a chipset component or may be integrated within one or more processor(s) 3002. In at least one embodiment, memory hub 3005 couples with an I/O subsystem 3011 via a communication link 3006. In at least one embodiment, I/O subsystem 3011 includes an I/O hub 3007 that can enable computing system 3000 to receive input from one or more input device(s) 3008. In at least one embodiment, I/O hub 3007 can enable a display controller, which may be included in one or more processor(s) 3002, to provide outputs to one or more display device(s) 3010A. In at least one embodiment, one or more display device(s) 3010A coupled with I/O hub 3007 can include a local, internal, or embedded display device.

In at least one embodiment, processing subsystem 3001 includes one or more parallel processor(s) 3012 coupled to memory hub 3005 via a bus or other communication link 3013. In at least one embodiment, communication link 3013 may be one of any number of standards based communication link technologies or protocols, such as, but not limited to PCIe, or may be a vendor specific communications interface or communications fabric. In at least one embodiment, one or more parallel processor(s) 3012 form a computationally focused parallel or vector processing system that can include a large number of processing cores and/or processing clusters, such as a many integrated core processor. In at least one embodiment, one or more parallel processor(s) 3012 form a graphics processing subsystem that can output pixels to one of one or more display device(s) 3010A coupled via I/O Hub 3007. In at least one embodiment, one or more parallel processor(s) 3012 can also include a display controller and display interface (not shown) to enable a direct connection to one or more display device(s) 3010B.

In at least one embodiment, a system storage unit 3014 can connect to I/O hub 3007 to provide a storage mechanism for computing system 3000. In at least one embodiment, an I/O switch 3016 can be used to provide an interface mechanism to enable connections between I/O hub 3007 and other components, such as a network adapter 3018 and/or wireless network adapter 3019 that may be integrated into a platform, and various other devices that can be added via one or more add-in device(s) 3020. In at least one embodiment, network adapter 3018 can be an Ethernet adapter or another wired network adapter. In at least one embodiment, wireless network adapter 3019 can include one or more of a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, or other network device that includes one or more wireless radios.

In at least one embodiment, computing system 3000 can include other components not explicitly shown, including USB or other port connections, optical storage drives, video capture devices, and/or variations thereof, that may also be connected to I/O hub 3007. In at least one embodiment, communication paths interconnecting various components in FIG. 30 may be implemented using any suitable protocols, such as PCI based protocols (e.g., PCIe), or other bus or point-to-point communication interfaces and/or protocol(s), such as NVLink high-speed interconnect, or interconnect protocols.

In at least one embodiment, one or more parallel processor(s) 3012 incorporate circuitry optimized for graphics and video processing, including, in at least one embodiment, video output circuitry, and constitutes a graphics processing unit (“GPU”). In at least one embodiment, one or more parallel processor(s) 3012 incorporate circuitry optimized for general purpose processing. In at least embodiment, components of computing system 3000 may be integrated with one or more other system elements on a single integrated circuit. In at least one embodiment, one or more parallel processor(s) 3012, memory hub 3005, processor(s) 3002, and I/O hub 3007 can be integrated into a SoC integrated circuit. In at least one embodiment, components of computing system 3000 can be integrated into a single package to form a system in package (“SIP”) configuration. In at least one embodiment, at least a portion of components of computing system 3000 can be integrated into a multi-chip module (“MCM”), which can be interconnected with other multi-chip modules into a modular computing system. In at least one embodiment, I/O subsystem 3011 and display devices 3010B are omitted from computing system 3000.

Processing Systems

The following figures set forth, without limitation, exemplary processing systems that can be used to implement at least one embodiment.

FIG. 31 illustrates an accelerated processing unit (“APU”) 3100, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, APU 3100 is developed by AMD Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. In at least one embodiment, APU 3100 can be configured to execute an application program, such as a CUDA program. In at least one embodiment, APU 3100 includes, without limitation, a core complex 3110, a graphics complex 3140, fabric 3160, I/O interfaces 3170, memory controllers 3180, a display controller 3192, and a multimedia engine 3194. In at least one embodiment, APU 3100 may include, without limitation, any number of core complexes 3110, any number of graphics complexes 3150, any number of display controllers 3192, and any number of multimedia engines 3194 in any combination. For explanatory purposes, multiple instances of like objects are denoted herein with reference numbers identifying an object and parenthetical numbers identifying an instance where needed.

In at least one embodiment, core complex 3110 is a CPU, graphics complex 3140 is a GPU, and APU 3100 is a processing unit that integrates, without limitation, 3110 and 3140 onto a single chip. In at least one embodiment, some tasks may be assigned to core complex 3110 and other tasks may be assigned to graphics complex 3140. In at least one embodiment, core complex 3110 is configured to execute main control software associated with APU 3100, such as an operating system. In at least one embodiment, core complex 3110 is a master processor of APU 3100, controlling and coordinating operations of other processors. In at least one embodiment, core complex 3110 issues commands that control an operation of graphics complex 3140. In at least one embodiment, core complex 3110 can be configured to execute host executable code derived from CUDA source code, and graphics complex 3140 can be configured to execute device executable code derived from CUDA source code.

In at least one embodiment, core complex 3110 includes, without limitation, cores 3120(1)-3120(4) and an L3 cache 3130. In at least one embodiment, core complex 3110 may include, without limitation, any number of cores 3120 and any number and type of caches in any combination. In at least one embodiment, cores 3120 are configured to execute instructions of a particular instruction set architecture (“ISA”). In at least one embodiment, each core 3120 is a CPU core.

In at least one embodiment, each core 3120 includes, without limitation, a fetch/decode unit 3122, an integer execution engine 3124, a floating point execution engine 3126, and an L2 cache 3128. In at least one embodiment, fetch/decode unit 3122 fetches instructions, decodes such instructions, generates micro-operations, and dispatches separate micro-instructions to integer execution engine 3124 and floating point execution engine 3126. In at least one embodiment, fetch/decode unit 3122 can concurrently dispatch one micro-instruction to integer execution engine 3124 and another micro-instruction to floating point execution engine 3126. In at least one embodiment, integer execution engine 3124 executes, without limitation, integer and memory operations. In at least one embodiment, floating point engine 3126 executes, without limitation, floating point and vector operations. In at least one embodiment, fetch-decode unit 3122 dispatches micro-instructions to a single execution engine that replaces both integer execution engine 3124 and floating point execution engine 3126.

In at least one embodiment, each core 3120(i), where i is an integer representing a particular instance of core 3120, may access L2 cache 3128(i) included in core 3120(i). In at least one embodiment, each core 3120 included in core complex 3110(j), where j is an integer representing a particular instance of core complex 3110, is connected to other cores 3120 included in core complex 3110(j) via L3 cache 3130(j) included in core complex 3110(j). In at least one embodiment, cores 3120 included in core complex 3110(j), where j is an integer representing a particular instance of core complex 3110, can access all of L3 cache 3130(j) included in core complex 3110(j). In at least one embodiment, L3 cache 3130 may include, without limitation, any number of slices.

In at least one embodiment, graphics complex 3140 can be configured to perform compute operations in a highly-parallel fashion. In at least one embodiment, graphics complex 3140 is configured to execute graphics pipeline operations such as draw commands, pixel operations, geometric computations, and other operations associated with rendering an image to a display. In at least one embodiment, graphics complex 3140 is configured to execute operations unrelated to graphics. In at least one embodiment, graphics complex 3140 is configured to execute both operations related to graphics and operations unrelated to graphics.

In at least one embodiment, graphics complex 3140 includes, without limitation, any number of compute units 3150 and an L2 cache 3142. In at least one embodiment, compute units 3150 share L2 cache 3142. In at least one embodiment, L2 cache 3142 is partitioned. In at least one embodiment, graphics complex 3140 includes, without limitation, any number of compute units 3150 and any number (including zero) and type of caches. In at least one embodiment, graphics complex 3140 includes, without limitation, any amount of dedicated graphics hardware.

In at least one embodiment, each compute unit 3150 includes, without limitation, any number of SIMD units 3152 and a shared memory 3154. In at least one embodiment, each SIMD unit 3152 implements a SIMD architecture and is configured to perform operations in parallel. In at least one embodiment, each compute unit 3150 may execute any number of thread blocks, but each thread block executes on a single compute unit 3150. In at least one embodiment, a thread block includes, without limitation, any number of threads of execution. In at least one embodiment, a workgroup is a thread block. In at least one embodiment, each SIMD unit 3152 executes a different warp. In at least one embodiment, a warp is a group of threads (e.g., 16 threads), where each thread in a warp belongs to a single thread block and is configured to process a different set of data based on a single set of instructions. In at least one embodiment, predication can be used to disable one or more threads in a warp. In at least one embodiment, a lane is a thread. In at least one embodiment, a work item is a thread. In at least one embodiment, a wavefront is a warp. In at least one embodiment, different wavefronts in a thread block may synchronize together and communicate via shared memory 3154.

In at least one embodiment, fabric 3160 is a system interconnect that facilitates data and control transmissions across core complex 3110, graphics complex 3140, I/O interfaces 3170, memory controllers 3180, display controller 3192, and multimedia engine 3194. In at least one embodiment, APU 3100 may include, without limitation, any amount and type of system interconnect in addition to or instead of fabric 3160 that facilitates data and control transmissions across any number and type of directly or indirectly linked components that may be internal or external to APU 3100. In at least one embodiment, I/O interfaces 3170 are representative of any number and type of I/O interfaces (e.g., PCI , PCI-Extended (“PCI-X”), PCIe, gigabit Ethernet (“GBE”), USB, etc.). In at least one embodiment, various types of peripheral devices are coupled to I/O interfaces 3170 In at least one embodiment, peripheral devices that are coupled to I/O interfaces 3170 may include, without limitation, keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, joysticks or other types of game controllers, media recording devices, external storage devices, network interface cards, and so forth.

In at least one embodiment, display controller AMD92 displays images on one or more display device(s), such as a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) device. In at least one embodiment, multimedia engine 240 includes, without limitation, any amount and type of circuitry that is related to multimedia, such as a video decoder, a video encoder, an image signal processor, etc. In at least one embodiment, memory controllers 3180 facilitate data transfers between APU 3100 and a unified system memory 3190. In at least one embodiment, core complex 3110 and graphics complex 3140 share unified system memory 3190.

In at least one embodiment, APU 3100 implements a memory subsystem that includes, without limitation, any amount and type of memory controllers 3180 and memory devices (e.g., shared memory 3154) that may be dedicated to one component or shared among multiple components. In at least one embodiment, APU 3100 implements a cache subsystem that includes, without limitation, one or more cache memories (e.g., L2 caches 2728, L3 cache 3130, and L2 cache 3142) that may each be private to or shared between any number of components (e.g., cores 3120, core complex 3110, SIMD units 3152, compute units 3150, and graphics complex 3140).

FIG. 32 illustrates a CPU 3200, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, CPU 3200 is developed by AMD Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. In at least one embodiment, CPU 3200 can be configured to execute an application program. In at least one embodiment, CPU 3200 is configured to execute main control software, such as an operating system. In at least one embodiment, CPU 3200 issues commands that control an operation of an external GPU (not shown). In at least one embodiment, CPU 3200 can be configured to execute host executable code derived from CUDA source code, and an external GPU can be configured to execute device executable code derived from such CUDA source code. In at least one embodiment, CPU 3200 includes, without limitation, any number of core complexes 3210, fabric 3260, I/O interfaces 3270, and memory controllers 3280.

In at least one embodiment, core complex 3210 includes, without limitation, cores 3220(1)-3220(4) and an L3 cache 3230. In at least one embodiment, core complex 3210 may include, without limitation, any number of cores 3220 and any number and type of caches in any combination. In at least one embodiment, cores 3220 are configured to execute instructions of a particular ISA. In at least one embodiment, each core 3220 is a CPU core.

In at least one embodiment, each core 3220 includes, without limitation, a fetch/decode unit 3222, an integer execution engine 3224, a floating point execution engine 3226, and an L2 cache 3228. In at least one embodiment, fetch/decode unit 3222 fetches instructions, decodes such instructions, generates micro-operations, and dispatches separate micro-instructions to integer execution engine 3224 and floating point execution engine 3226. In at least one embodiment, fetch/decode unit 3222 can concurrently dispatch one micro-instruction to integer execution engine 3224 and another micro-instruction to floating point execution engine 3226. In at least one embodiment, integer execution engine 3224 executes, without limitation, integer and memory operations. In at least one embodiment, floating point engine 3226 executes, without limitation, floating point and vector operations. In at least one embodiment, fetch-decode unit 3222 dispatches micro-instructions to a single execution engine that replaces both integer execution engine 3224 and floating point execution engine 3226.

In at least one embodiment, each core 3220(i), where i is an integer representing a particular instance of core 3220, may access L2 cache 3228(i) included in core 3220(i). In at least one embodiment, each core 3220 included in core complex 3210(j), where j is an integer representing a particular instance of core complex 3210, is connected to other cores 3220 in core complex 3210(j) via L3 cache 3230(j) included in core complex 3210(j). In at least one embodiment, cores 3220 included in core complex 3210(j), where j is an integer representing a particular instance of core complex 3210, can access all of L3 cache 3230(j) included in core complex 3210(j). In at least one embodiment, L3 cache 3230 may include, without limitation, any number of slices.

In at least one embodiment, fabric 3260 is a system interconnect that facilitates data and control transmissions across core complexes 3210(1)-3210(N) (where N is an integer greater than zero), I/O interfaces 3270, and memory controllers 3280. In at least one embodiment, CPU 3200 may include, without limitation, any amount and type of system interconnect in addition to or instead of fabric 3260 that facilitates data and control transmissions across any number and type of directly or indirectly linked components that may be internal or external to CPU 3200. In at least one embodiment, I/O interfaces 3270 are representative of any number and type of I/O interfaces (e.g., PCI , PCI-X, PCIe, GBE, USB, etc.). In at least one embodiment, various types of peripheral devices are coupled to I/O interfaces 3270 In at least one embodiment, peripheral devices that are coupled to I/O interfaces 3270 may include, without limitation, displays, keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, joysticks or other types of game controllers, media recording devices, external storage devices, network interface cards, and so forth.

In at least one embodiment, memory controllers 3280 facilitate data transfers between CPU 3200 and a system memory 3290. In at least one embodiment, core complex 3210 and graphics complex 3240 share system memory 3290. In at least one embodiment, CPU 3200 implements a memory subsystem that includes, without limitation, any amount and type of memory controllers 3280 and memory devices that may be dedicated to one component or shared among multiple components. In at least one embodiment, CPU 3200 implements a cache subsystem that includes, without limitation, one or more cache memories (e.g., L2 caches 3228 and L3 caches 3230) that may each be private to or shared between any number of components (e.g., cores 3220 and core complexes 3210).

FIG. 33 illustrates an exemplary accelerator integration slice 3390, in accordance with at least one embodiment. As used herein, a “slice” comprises a specified portion of processing resources of an accelerator integration circuit. In at least one embodiment, an accelerator integration circuit provides cache management, memory access, context management, and interrupt management services on behalf of multiple graphics processing engines included in a graphics acceleration module. Graphics processing engines may each comprise a separate GPU. Alternatively, graphics processing engines may comprise different types of graphics processing engines within a GPU such as graphics execution units, media processing engines (e.g., video encoders/decoders), samplers, and blit engines. In at least one embodiment, a graphics acceleration module may be a GPU with multiple graphics processing engines. In at least one embodiment, graphics processing engines may be individual GPUs integrated on a common package, line card, or chip.

An application effective address space 3382 within system memory 3314 stores process elements 3383. In one embodiment, process elements 3383 are stored in response to GPU invocations 3381 from applications 3380 executed on processor 3307. A process element 3383 contains process state for corresponding application 3380. A work descriptor (“WD”) 3384 contained in process element 3383 can be a single job requested by an application or may contain a pointer to a queue of jobs. In at least one embodiment, WD 3384 is a pointer to a job request queue in application effective address space 3382.

Graphics acceleration module 3346 and/or individual graphics processing engines can be shared by all or a subset of processes in a system. In at least one embodiment, an infrastructure for setting up process state and sending WD 3384 to graphics acceleration module 3346 to start a job in a virtualized environment may be included.

In at least one embodiment, a dedicated-process programming model is implementation-specific. In this model, a single process owns graphics acceleration module 3346 or an individual graphics processing engine. Because graphics acceleration module 3346 is owned by a single process, a hypervisor initializes an accelerator integration circuit for an owning partition and an operating system initializes accelerator integration circuit for an owning process when graphics acceleration module 3346 is assigned.

In operation, a WD fetch unit 3391 in accelerator integration slice 3390 fetches next WD 3384 which includes an indication of work to be done by one or more graphics processing engines of graphics acceleration module 3346. Data from WD 3384 may be stored in registers 3345 and used by a memory management unit (“MMU”) 3339, interrupt management circuit 3347 and/or context management circuit 3348 as illustrated. In at least one embodiment of MMU 3339 includes segment/page walk circuitry for accessing segment/page tables 3386 within OS virtual address space 3385. Interrupt management circuit 3347 may process interrupt events (“INT”) 3392 received from graphics acceleration module 3346. When performing graphics operations, an effective address 3393 generated by a graphics processing engine is translated to a real address by MMU 3339.

In one embodiment, a same set of registers 3345 are duplicated for each graphics processing engine and/or graphics acceleration module 3346 and may be initialized by a hypervisor or operating system. Each of these duplicated registers may be included in accelerator integration slice 3390. Exemplary registers that may be initialized by a hypervisor are shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Hypervisor Initialized Registers 1 Slice Control Register 2 Real Address (RA) Scheduled Processes Area Pointer 3 Authority Mask Override Register 4 Interrupt Vector Table Entry Offset 5 Interrupt Vector Table Entry Limit 6 State Register 7 Logical Partition ID 8 Real address (RA) Hypervisor Accelerator Utilization Record Pointer 9 Storage Description Register

Exemplary registers that may be initialized by an operating system are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Operating System Initialized Registers 1 Process and Thread Identification 2 Effective Address (EA) Context Save/Restore Pointer 3 Virtual Address (VA) Accelerator Utilization Record Pointer 4 Virtual Address (VA) Storage Segment Table Pointer 5 Authority Mask 6 Work descriptor

In one embodiment, each WD 3384 is specific to a particular graphics acceleration module 3346 and/or a particular graphics processing engine. It contains all information required by a graphics processing engine to do work or it can be a pointer to a memory location where an application has set up a command queue of work to be completed.

FIGS. 34A-34B illustrate exemplary graphics processors, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, any of the exemplary graphics processors may be fabricated using one or more IP cores. In addition to what is illustrated, other logic and circuits may be included in at least one embodiment, including additional graphics processors/cores, peripheral interface controllers, or general-purpose processor cores. In at least one embodiment, the exemplary graphics processors are for use within an SoC.

FIG. 34A illustrates an exemplary graphics processor 3410 of an SoC integrated circuit that may be fabricated using one or more IP cores, in accordance with at least one embodiment. FIG. 34B illustrates an additional exemplary graphics processor 3440 of an SoC integrated circuit that may be fabricated using one or more IP cores, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, graphics processor 3410 of FIG. 34A is a low power graphics processor core. In at least one embodiment, graphics processor 3440 of FIG. 34B is a higher performance graphics processor core. In at least one embodiment, each of graphics processors 3410, 3440 can be variants of graphics processor 510 of FIG. 5 .

In at least one embodiment, graphics processor 3410 includes a vertex processor 3405 and one or more fragment processor(s) 3415A-3415N (e.g., 3415A, 3415B, 3415C, 3415D, through 3415N-1, and 3415N). In at least one embodiment, graphics processor 3410 can execute different shader programs via separate logic, such that vertex processor 3405 is optimized to execute operations for vertex shader programs, while one or more fragment processor(s) 3415A-3415N execute fragment (e.g., pixel) shading operations for fragment or pixel shader programs. In at least one embodiment, vertex processor 3405 performs a vertex processing stage of a 3D graphics pipeline and generates primitives and vertex data. In at least one embodiment, fragment processor(s) 3415A-3415N use primitive and vertex data generated by vertex processor 3405 to produce a framebuffer that is displayed on a display device. In at least one embodiment, fragment processor(s) 3415A-3415N are optimized to execute fragment shader programs as provided for in an OpenGL API, which may be used to perform similar operations as a pixel shader program as provided for in a Direct 3D API.

In at least one embodiment, graphics processor 3410 additionally includes one or more MMU(s) 3420A-3420B, cache(s) 3425A-3425B, and circuit interconnect(s) 3430A-3430B. In at least one embodiment, one or more MMU(s) 3420A-3420B provide for virtual to physical address mapping for graphics processor 3410, including for vertex processor 3405 and/or fragment processor(s) 3415A-3415N, which may reference vertex or image/texture data stored in memory, in addition to vertex or image/texture data stored in one or more cache(s) 3425A-3425B. In at least one embodiment, one or more MMU(s) 3420A-3420B may be synchronized with other MMUs within a system, including one or more MMUs associated with one or more application processor(s) 505, image processors 515, and/or video processors 520 of FIG. 5 , such that each processor 505-520 can participate in a shared or unified virtual memory system. In at least one embodiment, one or more circuit interconnect(s) 3430A-3430B enable graphics processor 3410 to interface with other IP cores within an SoC, either via an internal bus of an SoC or via a direct connection.

In at least one embodiment, graphics processor 3440 includes one or more MMU(s) 3420A-3420B, caches 3425A-3425B, and circuit interconnects 3430A-3430B of graphics processor 3410 of FIG. 34A. In at least one embodiment, graphics processor 3440 includes one or more shader core(s) 3455A-3455N (e.g., 3455A, 3455B, 3455C, 3455D, 3455E, 3455F, through 3455N-1, and 3455N), which provides for a unified shader core architecture in which a single core or type or core can execute all types of programmable shader code, including shader program code to implement vertex shaders, fragment shaders, and/or compute shaders. In at least one embodiment, a number of shader cores can vary. In at least one embodiment, graphics processor 3440 includes an inter-core task manager 3445, which acts as a thread dispatcher to dispatch execution threads to one or more shader cores 3455A-3455N and a tiling unit 3458 to accelerate tiling operations for tile-based rendering, in which rendering operations for a scene are subdivided in image space, in at least one embodiment to exploit local spatial coherence within a scene or to optimize use of internal caches.

FIG. 35A illustrates a graphics core 3500, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, graphics core 3500 may be included within graphics processor 2410 of FIG. 24 . In at least one embodiment, graphics core 3500 may be a unified shader core 3455A-3455N as in FIG. 34B. In at least one embodiment, graphics core 3500 includes a shared instruction cache 3502, a texture unit 3518, and a cache/shared memory 3520 that are common to execution resources within graphics core 3500. In at least one embodiment, graphics core 3500 can include multiple slices 3501A-3501N or partition for each core, and a graphics processor can include multiple instances of graphics core 3500. Slices 3501A-3501N can include support logic including a local instruction cache 3504A-3504N, a thread scheduler 3506A-3506N, a thread dispatcher 3508A-3508N, and a set of registers 3510A-3510N. In at least one embodiment, slices 3501A-3501N can include a set of additional function units (“AFUs”) 3512A-3512N, floating-point units (“FPUs”) 3514A-3514N, integer arithmetic logic units (“ALUs”) 3516-3516N, address computational units (“ACUs”) 3513A-3513N, double-precision floating-point units (“DPFPUs”) 3515A-3515N, and matrix processing units (“MPUs”) 3517A-3517N.

In at least one embodiment, FPUs 3514A-3514N can perform single-precision (32-bit) and half-precision (16-bit) floating point operations, while DPFPUs 3515A-3515N perform double precision (64-bit) floating point operations. In at least one embodiment, ALUs 3516A-3516N can perform variable precision integer operations at 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit precision, and can be configured for mixed precision operations. In at least one embodiment, MPUs 3517A-3517N can also be configured for mixed precision matrix operations, including half-precision floating point and 8-bit integer operations. In at least one embodiment, MPUs 3517-3517N can perform a variety of matrix operations to accelerate CUDA programs, including enabling support for accelerated general matrix to matrix multiplication (“GEMM”). In at least one embodiment, AFUs 3512A-3512N can perform additional logic operations not supported by floating-point or integer units, including trigonometric operations (e.g., Sine, Cosine, etc.).

FIG. 35B illustrates a general-purpose graphics processing unit (“GPGPU”) 3530, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, GPGPU 3530 is highly-parallel and suitable for deployment on a multi-chip module. In at least one embodiment, GPGPU 3530 can be configured to enable highly-parallel compute operations to be performed by an array of GPUs. In at least one embodiment, GPGPU 3530 can be linked directly to other instances of GPGPU 3530 to create a multi-GPU cluster to improve execution time for CUDA programs. In at least one embodiment, GPGPU 3530 includes a host interface 3532 to enable a connection with a host processor. In at least one embodiment, host interface 3532 is a PCIe interface. In at least one embodiment, host interface 3532 can be a vendor specific communications interface or communications fabric. In at least one embodiment, GPGPU 3530 receives commands from a host processor and uses a global scheduler 3534 to distribute execution threads associated with those commands to a set of compute clusters 3536A-3536H. In at least one embodiment, compute clusters 3536A-3536H share a cache memory 3538. In at least one embodiment, cache memory 3538 can serve as a higher-level cache for cache memories within compute clusters 3536A-3536H.

In at least one embodiment, GPGPU 3530 includes memory 3544A-3544B coupled with compute clusters 3536A-3536H via a set of memory controllers 3542A-3542B. In at least one embodiment, memory 3544A-3544B can include various types of memory devices including DRAM or graphics random access memory, such as synchronous graphics random access memory (“SGRAM”), including graphics double data rate (“GDDR”) memory.

In at least one embodiment, compute clusters 3536A-3536H each include a set of graphics cores, such as graphics core 3500 of FIG. 35A, which can include multiple types of integer and floating point logic units that can perform computational operations at a range of precisions including suited for computations associated with CUDA programs. In at least one embodiment, at least a subset of floating point units in each of compute clusters 3536A-3536H can be configured to perform 16-bit or 32-bit floating point operations, while a different subset of floating point units can be configured to perform 64-bit floating point operations.

In at least one embodiment, multiple instances of GPGPU 3530 can be configured to operate as a compute cluster. In at least one embodiment, compute clusters 3536A-3536H may implement any technically feasible communication techniques for synchronization and data exchange. In at least one embodiment, multiple instances of GPGPU 3530 communicate over host interface 3532. In at least one embodiment, GPGPU 3530 includes an I/O hub 3539 that couples GPGPU 3530 with a GPU link 3540 that enables a direct connection to other instances of GPGPU 3530. In at least one embodiment, GPU link 3540 is coupled to a dedicated GPU-to-GPU bridge that enables communication and synchronization between multiple instances of GPGPU 3530. In at least one embodiment GPU link 3540 couples with a high speed interconnect to transmit and receive data to other GPGPUs 3530 or parallel processors. In at least one embodiment, multiple instances of GPGPU 3530 are located in separate data processing systems and communicate via a network device that is accessible via host interface 3532. In at least one embodiment GPU link 3540 can be configured to enable a connection to a host processor in addition to or as an alternative to host interface 3532. In at least one embodiment, GPGPU 3530 can be configured to execute a CUDA program.

FIG. 36A illustrates a parallel processor 3600, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, various components of parallel processor 3600 may be implemented using one or more integrated circuit devices, such as programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), or FPGAs.

In at least one embodiment, parallel processor 3600 includes a parallel processing unit 3602. In at least one embodiment, parallel processing unit 3602 includes an I/O unit 3604 that enables communication with other devices, including other instances of parallel processing unit 3602. In at least one embodiment, I/O unit 3604 may be directly connected to other devices. In at least one embodiment, I/O unit 3604 connects with other devices via use of a hub or switch interface, such as memory hub 605. In at least one embodiment, connections between memory hub 605 and I/O unit 3604 form a communication link. In at least one embodiment, I/O unit 3604 connects with a host interface 3606 and a memory crossbar 3616, where host interface 3606 receives commands directed to performing processing operations and memory crossbar 3616 receives commands directed to performing memory operations.

In at least one embodiment, when host interface 3606 receives a command buffer via I/O unit 3604, host interface 3606 can direct work operations to perform those commands to a front end 3608. In at least one embodiment, front end 3608 couples with a scheduler 3610, which is configured to distribute commands or other work items to a processing array 3612. In at least one embodiment, scheduler 3610 ensures that processing array 3612 is properly configured and in a valid state before tasks are distributed to processing array 3612. In at least one embodiment, scheduler 3610 is implemented via firmware logic executing on a microcontroller. In at least one embodiment, microcontroller implemented scheduler 3610 is configurable to perform complex scheduling and work distribution operations at coarse and fine granularity, enabling rapid preemption and context switching of threads executing on processing array 3612. In at least one embodiment, host software can prove workloads for scheduling on processing array 3612 via one of multiple graphics processing doorbells. In at least one embodiment, workloads can then be automatically distributed across processing array 3612 by scheduler 3610 logic within a microcontroller including scheduler 3610.

In at least one embodiment, processing array 3612 can include up to “N” clusters (e.g., cluster 3614A, cluster 3614B, through cluster 3614N). In at least one embodiment, each cluster 3614A-3614N of processing array 3612 can execute a large number of concurrent threads. In at least one embodiment, scheduler 3610 can allocate work to clusters 3614A-3614N of processing array 3612 using various scheduling and/or work distribution algorithms, which may vary depending on a workload arising for each type of program or computation. In at least one embodiment, scheduling can be handled dynamically by scheduler 3610, or can be assisted in part by compiler logic during compilation of program logic configured for execution by processing array 3612. In at least one embodiment, different clusters 3614A-3614N of processing array 3612 can be allocated for processing different types of programs or for performing different types of computations.

In at least one embodiment, processing array 3612 can be configured to perform various types of parallel processing operations. In at least one embodiment, processing array 3612 is configured to perform general-purpose parallel compute operations. In at least one embodiment, processing array 3612 can include logic to execute processing tasks including filtering of video and/or audio data, performing modeling operations, including physics operations, and performing data transformations.

In at least one embodiment, processing array 3612 is configured to perform parallel graphics processing operations. In at least one embodiment, processing array 3612 can include additional logic to support execution of such graphics processing operations, including, but not limited to texture sampling logic to perform texture operations, as well as tessellation logic and other vertex processing logic. In at least one embodiment, processing array 3612 can be configured to execute graphics processing related shader programs such as, but not limited to vertex shaders, tessellation shaders, geometry shaders, and pixel shaders. In at least one embodiment, parallel processing unit 3602 can transfer data from system memory via I/O unit 3604 for processing. In at least one embodiment, during processing, transferred data can be stored to on-chip memory (e.g., a parallel processor memory 3622) during processing, then written back to system memory.

In at least one embodiment, when parallel processing unit 3602 is used to perform graphics processing, scheduler 3610 can be configured to divide a processing workload into approximately equal sized tasks, to better enable distribution of graphics processing operations to multiple clusters 3614A-3614N of processing array 3612. In at least one embodiment, portions of processing array 3612 can be configured to perform different types of processing. In at least one embodiment, a first portion may be configured to perform vertex shading and topology generation, a second portion may be configured to perform tessellation and geometry shading, and a third portion may be configured to perform pixel shading or other screen space operations, to produce a rendered image for display. In at least one embodiment, intermediate data produced by one or more of clusters 3614A-3614N may be stored in buffers to allow intermediate data to be transmitted between clusters 3614A-3614N for further processing.

In at least one embodiment, processing array 3612 can receive processing tasks to be executed via scheduler 3610, which receives commands defining processing tasks from front end 3608. In at least one embodiment, processing tasks can include indices of data to be processed, e.g., surface (patch) data, primitive data, vertex data, and/or pixel data, as well as state parameters and commands defining how data is to be processed (e.g., what program is to be executed). In at least one embodiment, scheduler 3610 may be configured to fetch indices corresponding to tasks or may receive indices from front end 3608. In at least one embodiment, front end 3608 can be configured to ensure processing array 3612 is configured to a valid state before a workload specified by incoming command buffers (e.g., batch-buffers, push buffers, etc.) is initiated.

In at least one embodiment, each of one or more instances of parallel processing unit 3602 can couple with parallel processor memory 3622. In at least one embodiment, parallel processor memory 3622 can be accessed via memory crossbar 3616, which can receive memory requests from processing array 3612 as well as I/O unit 3604. In at least one embodiment, memory crossbar 3616 can access parallel processor memory 3622 via a memory interface 3618. In at least one embodiment, memory interface 3618 can include multiple partition units (e.g., a partition unit 3620A, partition unit 3620B, through partition unit 3620N) that can each couple to a portion (e.g., memory unit) of parallel processor memory 3622. In at least one embodiment, a number of partition units 3620A-3620N is configured to be equal to a number of memory units, such that a first partition unit 3620A has a corresponding first memory unit 3624A, a second partition unit 3620B has a corresponding memory unit 3624B, and an Nth partition unit 3620N has a corresponding Nth memory unit 3624N. In at least one embodiment, a number of partition units 3620A-3620N may not be equal to a number of memory devices.

In at least one embodiment, memory units 3624A-3624N can include various types of memory devices, including DRAM or graphics random access memory, such as SGRAM, including GDDR memory. In at least one embodiment, memory units 3624A-3624N may also include 3D stacked memory, including but not limited to high bandwidth memory (“HBM”). In at least one embodiment, render targets, such as frame buffers or texture maps may be stored across memory units 3624A-3624N, allowing partition units 3620A-3620N to write portions of each render target in parallel to efficiently use available bandwidth of parallel processor memory 3622. In at least one embodiment, a local instance of parallel processor memory 3622 may be excluded in favor of a unified memory design that utilizes system memory in conjunction with local cache memory.

In at least one embodiment, any one of clusters 3614A-3614N of processing array 3612 can process data that will be written to any of memory units 3624A-3624N within parallel processor memory 3622. In at least one embodiment, memory crossbar 3616 can be configured to transfer an output of each cluster 3614A-3614N to any partition unit 3620A-3620N or to another cluster 3614A-3614N, which can perform additional processing operations on an output. In at least one embodiment, each cluster 3614A-3614N can communicate with memory interface 3618 through memory crossbar 3616 to read from or write to various external memory devices. In at least one embodiment, memory crossbar 3616 has a connection to memory interface 3618 to communicate with I/O unit 3604, as well as a connection to a local instance of parallel processor memory 3622, enabling processing units within different clusters 3614A-3614N to communicate with system memory or other memory that is not local to parallel processing unit 3602. In at least one embodiment, memory crossbar 3616 can use virtual channels to separate traffic streams between clusters 3614A-3614N and partition units 3620A-3620N.

In at least one embodiment, multiple instances of parallel processing unit 3602 can be provided on a single add-in card, or multiple add-in cards can be interconnected. In at least one embodiment, different instances of parallel processing unit 3602 can be configured to inter-operate even if different instances have different numbers of processing cores, different amounts of local parallel processor memory, and/or other configuration differences. In at least one embodiment, some instances of parallel processing unit 3602 can include higher precision floating point units relative to other instances. In at least one embodiment, systems incorporating one or more instances of parallel processing unit 3602 or parallel processor 3600 can be implemented in a variety of configurations and form factors, including but not limited to desktop, laptop, or handheld personal computers, servers, workstations, game consoles, and/or embedded systems.

FIG. 36B illustrates a processing cluster 3694, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, processing cluster 3694 is included within a parallel processing unit. In at least one embodiment, processing cluster 3694 is one of processing clusters 3614A-3614N of FIG. 36 . In at least one embodiment, processing cluster 3694 can be configured to execute many threads in parallel, where the term “thread” refers to an instance of a particular program executing on a particular set of input data. In at least one embodiment, single instruction, multiple data (“SIMD”) instruction issue techniques are used to support parallel execution of a large number of threads without providing multiple independent instruction units. In at least one embodiment, single instruction, multiple thread (“SIMT”) techniques are used to support parallel execution of a large number of generally synchronized threads, using a common instruction unit configured to issue instructions to a set of processing engines within each processing cluster 3694.

In at least one embodiment, operation of processing cluster 3694 can be controlled via a pipeline manager 3632 that distributes processing tasks to SIMT parallel processors. In at least one embodiment, pipeline manager 3632 receives instructions from scheduler 3610 of FIG. 36 and manages execution of those instructions via a graphics multiprocessor 3634 and/or a texture unit 3636. In at least one embodiment, graphics multiprocessor 3634 is an exemplary instance of a SIMT parallel processor. However, in at least one embodiment, various types of SIMT parallel processors of differing architectures may be included within processing cluster 3694. In at least one embodiment, one or more instances of graphics multiprocessor 3634 can be included within processing cluster 3694. In at least one embodiment, graphics multiprocessor 3634 can process data and a data crossbar 3640 can be used to distribute processed data to one of multiple possible destinations, including other shader units. In at least one embodiment, pipeline manager 3632 can facilitate distribution of processed data by specifying destinations for processed data to be distributed via data crossbar 3640.

In at least one embodiment, each graphics multiprocessor 3634 within processing cluster 3694 can include an identical set of functional execution logic (e.g., arithmetic logic units, load/store units (“LSUs”), etc.). In at least one embodiment, functional execution logic can be configured in a pipelined manner in which new instructions can be issued before previous instructions are complete. In at least one embodiment, functional execution logic supports a variety of operations including integer and floating point arithmetic, comparison operations, Boolean operations, bit-shifting, and computation of various algebraic functions. In at least one embodiment, same functional-unit hardware can be leveraged to perform different operations and any combination of functional units may be present.

In at least one embodiment, instructions transmitted to processing cluster 3694 constitute a thread. In at least one embodiment, a set of threads executing across a set of parallel processing engines is a thread group. In at least one embodiment, a thread group executes a program on different input data. In at least one embodiment, each thread within a thread group can be assigned to a different processing engine within graphics multiprocessor 3634. In at least one embodiment, a thread group may include fewer threads than a number of processing engines within graphics multiprocessor 3634. In at least one embodiment, when a thread group includes fewer threads than a number of processing engines, one or more of processing engines may be idle during cycles in which that thread group is being processed. In at least one embodiment, a thread group may also include more threads than a number of processing engines within graphics multiprocessor 3634. In at least one embodiment, when a thread group includes more threads than a number of processing engines within graphics multiprocessor 3634, processing can be performed over consecutive clock cycles. In at least one embodiment, multiple thread groups can be executed concurrently on graphics multiprocessor 3634.

In at least one embodiment, graphics multiprocessor 3634 includes an internal cache memory to perform load and store operations. In at least one embodiment, graphics multiprocessor 3634 can forego an internal cache and use a cache memory (e.g., L1 cache 3648) within processing cluster 3694. In at least one embodiment, each graphics multiprocessor 3634 also has access to Level 2 (“L2”) caches within partition units (e.g., partition units 3620A-3620N of FIG. 36A) that are shared among all processing clusters 3694 and may be used to transfer data between threads. In at least one embodiment, graphics multiprocessor 3634 may also access off-chip global memory, which can include one or more of local parallel processor memory and/or system memory. In at least one embodiment, any memory external to parallel processing unit 3602 may be used as global memory. In at least one embodiment, processing cluster 3694 includes multiple instances of graphics multiprocessor 3634 that can share common instructions and data, which may be stored in L1 cache 3648.

In at least one embodiment, each processing cluster 3694 may include an MMU 3645 that is configured to map virtual addresses into physical addresses. In at least one embodiment, one or more instances of MMU 3645 may reside within memory interface 3618 of FIG. 36 . In at least one embodiment, MMU 3645 includes a set of page table entries (“PTEs”) used to map a virtual address to a physical address of a tile and optionally a cache line index. In at least one embodiment, MMU 3645 may include address translation lookaside buffers (“TLBs”) or caches that may reside within graphics multiprocessor 3634 or L1 cache 3648 or processing cluster 3694. In at least one embodiment, a physical address is processed to distribute surface data access locality to allow efficient request interleaving among partition units. In at least one embodiment, a cache line index may be used to determine whether a request for a cache line is a hit or miss.

In at least one embodiment, processing cluster 3694 may be configured such that each graphics multiprocessor 3634 is coupled to a texture unit 3636 for performing texture mapping operations, e.g., determining texture sample positions, reading texture data, and filtering texture data. In at least one embodiment, texture data is read from an internal texture L1 cache (not shown) or from an L1 cache within graphics multiprocessor 3634 and is fetched from an L2 cache, local parallel processor memory, or system memory, as needed. In at least one embodiment, each graphics multiprocessor 3634 outputs a processed task to data crossbar 3640 to provide a processed task to another processing cluster 3694 for further processing or to store a processed task in an L2 cache, a local parallel processor memory, or a system memory via memory crossbar 3616. In at least one embodiment, a pre-raster operations unit (“preROP”) 3642 is configured to receive data from graphics multiprocessor 3634, direct data to ROP units, which may be located with partition units as described herein (e.g., partition units 3620A-3620N of FIG. 36 ). In at least one embodiment, PreROP 3642 can perform optimizations for color blending, organize pixel color data, and perform address translations.

FIG. 36C illustrates a graphics multiprocessor 3696, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, graphics multiprocessor 3696 is graphics multiprocessor 3634 of FIG. 36B. In at least one embodiment, graphics multiprocessor 3696 couples with pipeline manager 3632 of processing cluster 3694. In at least one embodiment, graphics multiprocessor 3696 has an execution pipeline including but not limited to an instruction cache 3652, an instruction unit 3654, an address mapping unit 3656, a register file 3658, one or more GPGPU cores 3662, and one or more LSUs 3666. GPGPU cores 3662 and LSUs 3666 are coupled with cache memory 3672 and shared memory 3670 via a memory and cache interconnect 3668.

In at least one embodiment, instruction cache 3652 receives a stream of instructions to execute from pipeline manager 3632. In at least one embodiment, instructions are cached in instruction cache 3652 and dispatched for execution by instruction unit 3654. In at least one embodiment, instruction unit 3654 can dispatch instructions as thread groups (e.g., warps), with each thread of a thread group assigned to a different execution unit within GPGPU core 3662. In at least one embodiment, an instruction can access any of a local, shared, or global address space by specifying an address within a unified address space. In at least one embodiment, address mapping unit 3656 can be used to translate addresses in a unified address space into a distinct memory address that can be accessed by LSUs 3666.

In at least one embodiment, register file 3658 provides a set of registers for functional units of graphics multiprocessor 3696. In at least one embodiment, register file 3658 provides temporary storage for operands connected to data paths of functional units (e.g., GPGPU cores 3662, LSUs 3666) of graphics multiprocessor 3696. In at least one embodiment, register file 3658 is divided between each of functional units such that each functional unit is allocated a dedicated portion of register file 3658. In at least one embodiment, register file 3658 is divided between different thread groups being executed by graphics multiprocessor 3696.

In at least one embodiment, GPGPU cores 3662 can each include FPUs and/or integer ALUs that are used to execute instructions of graphics multiprocessor 3696. GPGPU cores 3662 can be similar in architecture or can differ in architecture. In at least one embodiment, a first portion of GPGPU cores 3662 include a single precision FPU and an integer ALU while a second portion of GPGPU cores 3662 include a double precision FPU. In at least one embodiment, FPUs can implement IEEE 754-2008 standard for floating point arithmetic or enable variable precision floating point arithmetic. In at least one embodiment, graphics multiprocessor 3696 can additionally include one or more fixed function or special function units to perform specific functions such as copy rectangle or pixel blending operations. In at least one embodiment one or more of GPGPU cores 3662 can also include fixed or special function logic.

In at least one embodiment, GPGPU cores 3662 include SIMD logic capable of performing a single instruction on multiple sets of data. In at least one embodiment GPGPU cores 3662 can physically execute SIMD4, SIMD8, and SIMD16 instructions and logically execute SIMD1, SIMD2, and SIMD32 instructions. In at least one embodiment, SIMD instructions for GPGPU cores 3662 can be generated at compile time by a shader compiler or automatically generated when executing programs written and compiled for single program multiple data (“SPMD”) or SIMT architectures. In at least one embodiment, multiple threads of a program configured for an SIMT execution model can executed via a single SIMD instruction. In at least one embodiment, eight SIMT threads that perform the same or similar operations can be executed in parallel via a single SIMD8 logic unit.

In at least one embodiment, memory and cache interconnect 3668 is an interconnect network that connects each functional unit of graphics multiprocessor 3696 to register file 3658 and to shared memory 3670. In at least one embodiment, memory and cache interconnect 3668 is a crossbar interconnect that allows LSU 3666 to implement load and store operations between shared memory 3670 and register file 3658. In at least one embodiment, register file 3658 can operate at a same frequency as GPGPU cores 3662, thus data transfer between GPGPU cores 3662 and register file 3658 is very low latency. In at least one embodiment, shared memory 3670 can be used to enable communication between threads that execute on functional units within graphics multiprocessor 3696. In at least one embodiment, cache memory 3672 can be used as a data cache in at least one embodiment, to cache texture data communicated between functional units and texture unit 3636. In at least one embodiment, shared memory 3670 can also be used as a program managed cached. In at least one embodiment, threads executing on GPGPU cores 3662 can programmatically store data within shared memory in addition to automatically cached data that is stored within cache memory 3672.

In at least one embodiment, a parallel processor or GPGPU as described herein is communicatively coupled to host/processor cores to accelerate graphics operations, machine-learning operations, pattern analysis operations, and various general purpose GPU (GPGPU) functions. In at least one embodiment, a GPU may be communicatively coupled to host processor/cores over a bus or other interconnect (e.g., a high speed interconnect such as PCIe or NVLink). In at least one embodiment, a GPU may be integrated on a same package or chip as cores and communicatively coupled to cores over a processor bus/interconnect that is internal to a package or a chip. In at least one embodiment, regardless of a manner in which a GPU is connected, processor cores may allocate work to a GPU in a form of sequences of commands/instructions contained in a WD. In at least one embodiment, a GPU then uses dedicated circuitry/logic for efficiently processing these commands/instructions.

General Computing

The following figures set forth, without limitation, exemplary software constructs within general computing that can be used to implement at least one embodiment.

FIG. 37 illustrates a software stack of a programming platform, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, a programming platform is a platform for leveraging hardware on a computing system to accelerate computational tasks. A programming platform may be accessible to software developers through libraries, compiler directives, and/or extensions to programming languages, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, a programming platform may be, but is not limited to, CUDA, Radeon Open Compute Platform (“ROCm”), OpenCL (OpenCL™ is developed by Khronos group), SYCL, or Intel One API.

In at least one embodiment, a software stack 3700 of a programming platform provides an execution environment for an application 3701. In at least one embodiment, application 3701 may include any computer software capable of being launched on software stack 3700. In at least one embodiment, application 3701 may include, but is not limited to, an artificial intelligence (“AI”)/machine learning (“ML”) application, a high performance computing (“HPC”) application, a virtual desktop infrastructure (“VDI”), or a datacenter workload.

In at least one embodiment, application 3701 and software stack 3700 run on hardware 3707. Hardware 3707 may include one or more GPUs, CPUs, FPGAs, AI engines, and/or other types of compute devices that support a programming platform, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, such as with CUDA, software stack 3700 may be vendor specific and compatible with only devices from particular vendor(s). In at least one embodiment, such as in with OpenCL, software stack 3700 may be used with devices from different vendors. In at least one embodiment, hardware 3707 includes a host connected to one more devices that can be accessed to perform computational tasks via application programming interface (“API”) calls. A device within hardware 3707 may include, but is not limited to, a GPU, FPGA, AI engine, or other compute device (but may also include a CPU) and its memory, as opposed to a host within hardware 3707 that may include, but is not limited to, a CPU (but may also include a compute device) and its memory, in at least one embodiment.

In at least one embodiment, software stack 3700 of a programming platform includes, without limitation, a number of libraries 3703, a runtime 3705, and a device kernel driver 3706 Each of libraries 3703 may include data and programming code that can be used by computer programs and leveraged during software development, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, libraries 3703 may include, but are not limited to, pre-written code and subroutines, classes, values, type specifications, configuration data, documentation, help data, and/or message templates. In at least one embodiment, libraries 3703 include functions that are optimized for execution on one or more types of devices. In at least one embodiment, libraries 3703 may include, but are not limited to, functions for performing mathematical, deep learning, and/or other types of operations on devices. In at least one embodiment, libraries 3803 are associated with corresponding APIs 3802, which may include one or more APIs, that expose functions implemented in libraries 3803.

In at least one embodiment, application 3701 is written as source code that is compiled into executable code, as discussed in greater detail below in conjunction with FIG. 42 . Executable code of application 3701 may run, at least in part, on an execution environment provided by software stack 3700, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, during execution of application 3701, code may be reached that needs to run on a device, as opposed to a host. In such a case, runtime 3705 may be called to load and launch requisite code on a device, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, runtime 3705 may include any technically feasible runtime system that is able to support execution of application S01.

In at least one embodiment, runtime 3705 is implemented as one or more runtime libraries associated with corresponding APIs, which are shown as API(s) 3704. One or more of such runtime libraries may include, without limitation, functions for memory management, execution control, device management, error handling, and/or synchronization, among other things, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, memory management functions may include, but are not limited to, functions to allocate, deallocate, and copy device memory, as well as transfer data between host memory and device memory. In at least one embodiment, execution control functions may include, but are not limited to, functions to launch a function (sometimes referred to as a “kernel” when a function is a global function callable from a host) on a device and set attribute values in a buffer maintained by a runtime library for a given function to be executed on a device.

Runtime libraries and corresponding API(s) 3704 may be implemented in any technically feasible manner, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, one (or any number of) API may expose a low-level set of functions for fine-grained control of a device, while another (or any number of) API may expose a higher-level set of such functions. In at least one embodiment, a high-level runtime API may be built on top of a low-level API. In at least one embodiment, one or more of runtime APIs may be language-specific APIs that are layered on top of a language-independent runtime API.

In at least one embodiment, device kernel driver 3706 is configured to facilitate communication with an underlying device. In at least one embodiment, device kernel driver 3706 may provide low-level functionalities upon which APIs, such as API(s) 3704, and/or other software relies. In at least one embodiment, device kernel driver 3706 may be configured to compile intermediate representation (“IR”) code into binary code at runtime. For CUDA, device kernel driver 3706 may compile Parallel Thread Execution (“PTX”) IR code that is not hardware specific into binary code for a specific target device at runtime (with caching of compiled binary code), which is also sometimes referred to as “finalizing” code, in at least one embodiment. Doing so may permit finalized code to run on a target device, which may not have existed when source code was originally compiled into PTX code, in at least one embodiment. Alternatively, in at least one embodiment, device source code may be compiled into binary code offline, without requiring device kernel driver 3706 to compile IR code at runtime.

FIG. 38 illustrates a CUDA implementation of software stack 3700 of FIG. 37 , in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, a CUDA software stack 3800, on which an application 3801 may be launched, includes CUDA libraries 3803, a CUDA runtime 3805, a CUDA driver 3807, and a device kernel driver 3808. In at least one embodiment, CUDA software stack 3800 executes on hardware 3809, which may include a GPU that supports CUDA and is developed by NVIDIA Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif.

In at least one embodiment, application 3801, CUDA runtime 3805, and device kernel driver 3808 may perform similar functionalities as application 3701, runtime 3705, and device kernel driver 3706, respectively, which are described above in conjunction with FIG. 37 . In at least one embodiment, CUDA driver 3807 includes a library (libcuda.so) that implements a CUDA driver API 3806. Similar to a CUDA runtime API 3804 implemented by a CUDA runtime library (cudart), CUDA driver API 3806 may, without limitation, expose functions for memory management, execution control, device management, error handling, synchronization, and/or graphics interoperability, among other things, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, CUDA driver API 3806 differs from CUDA runtime API 3804 in that CUDA runtime API 3804 simplifies device code management by providing implicit initialization, context (analogous to a process) management, and module (analogous to dynamically loaded libraries) management. In contrast to high-level CUDA runtime API 3804, CUDA driver API 3806 is a low-level API providing more fine-grained control of a device, particularly with respect to contexts and module loading, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, CUDA driver API 3806 may expose functions for context management that are not exposed by CUDA runtime API 3804. In at least one embodiment, CUDA driver API 3806 is also language-independent and supports, e.g., OpenCL in addition to CUDA runtime API 3804. Further, in at least one embodiment, development libraries, including CUDA runtime 3805, may be considered as separate from driver components, including user-mode CUDA driver 3807 and kernel-mode device driver 3808 (also sometimes referred to as a “display” driver).

In at least one embodiment, CUDA libraries 3803 may include, but are not limited to, mathematical libraries, deep learning libraries, parallel algorithm libraries, and/or signal/image/video processing libraries, which parallel computing applications such as application 3801 may utilize. In at least one embodiment, CUDA libraries 3803 may include mathematical libraries such as a cuBLAS library that is an implementation of Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (“BLAS”) for performing linear algebra operations, a cuFFT library for computing fast Fourier transforms (“FFTs”), and a cuRAND library for generating random numbers, among others. In at least one embodiment, CUDA libraries 3803 may include deep learning libraries such as a cuDNN library of primitives for deep neural networks and a TensorRT platform for high-performance deep learning inference, among others.

FIG. 39 illustrates a ROCm implementation of software stack 3700 of FIG. 37 , in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, a ROCm software stack 3900, on which an application 3901 may be launched, includes a language runtime 3903, a system runtime 3905, a thunk 3907, a ROCm kernel driver 3908, and a device kernel driver 3909. In at least one embodiment, ROCm software stack 3900 executes on hardware 3910, which may include a GPU that supports ROCm and is developed by AMD Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif.

In at least one embodiment, application 3901 may perform similar functionalities as application 3701 discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 37 . In addition, language runtime 3903 and system runtime 3905 may perform similar functionalities as runtime 3705 discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 37 , in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, language runtime 3903 and system runtime 3905 differ in that system runtime 3905 is a language-independent runtime that implements a ROCr system runtime API 3904 and makes use of a Heterogeneous System Architecture (“HAS”) Runtime API. HAS runtime API is a thin, user-mode API that exposes interfaces to access and interact with an AMD GPU, including functions for memory management, execution control via architected dispatch of kernels, error handling, system and agent information, and runtime initialization and shutdown, among other things, in at least one embodiment. In contrast to system runtime 3905, language runtime 3903 is an implementation of a language-specific runtime API 3902 layered on top of ROCr system runtime API 3904, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, language runtime API may include, but is not limited to, a Heterogeneous compute Interface for Portability (“HIP”) language runtime API, a Heterogeneous Compute Compiler (“HCC”) language runtime API, or an OpenCL API, among others. HIP language in particular is an extension of C++ programming language with functionally similar versions of CUDA mechanisms, and, in at least one embodiment, a HIP language runtime API includes functions that are similar to those of CUDA runtime API 3804 discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 38 , such as functions for memory management, execution control, device management, error handling, and synchronization, among other things.

In at least one embodiment, thunk (ROCt) 3907 is an interface that can be used to interact with underlying ROCm driver 3908. In at least one embodiment, ROCm driver 3908 is a ROCk driver, which is a combination of an AMDGPU driver and a HAS kernel driver (amdkfd). In at least one embodiment, AMDGPU driver is a device kernel driver for GPUs developed by AMD that performs similar functionalities as device kernel driver 3706 discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 37 . In at least one embodiment, HAS kernel driver is a driver permitting different types of processors to share system resources more effectively via hardware features.

In at least one embodiment, various libraries (not shown) may be included in ROCm software stack 3900 above language runtime 3903 and provide functionality similarity to CUDA libraries 3803, discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 38 . In at least one embodiment, various libraries may include, but are not limited to, mathematical, deep learning, and/or other libraries such as a hipBLAS library that implements functions similar to those of CUDA cuBLAS, a rocFFT library for computing FFTs that is similar to CUDA cuFFT, among others.

FIG. 40 illustrates an OpenCL implementation of software stack 3700 of FIG. 37 , in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, an OpenCL software stack 4000, on which an application 4001 may be launched, includes an OpenCL framework 4005, an OpenCL runtime 4006, and a driver 4007. In at least one embodiment, OpenCL software stack 4000 executes on hardware 3809 that is not vendor-specific. As OpenCL is supported by devices developed by different vendors, specific OpenCL drivers may be required to interoperate with hardware from such vendors, in at least one embodiment.

In at least one embodiment, application 4001, OpenCL runtime 4006, device kernel driver 4007, and hardware 4008 may perform similar functionalities as application 3701, runtime 3705, device kernel driver 3706, and hardware 3707, respectively, that are discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 37 . In at least one embodiment, application 4001 further includes an OpenCL kernel 4002 with code that is to be executed on a device.

In at least one embodiment, OpenCL defines a “platform” that allows a host to control devices connected to a host. In at least one embodiment, an OpenCL framework provides a platform layer API and a runtime API, shown as platform API 400 and runtime API 4005. In at least one embodiment, runtime API 4005 uses contexts to manage execution of kernels on devices. In at least one embodiment, each identified device may be associated with a respective context, which runtime API 4005 may use to manage command queues, program objects, and kernel objects, share memory objects, among other things, for that device. In at least one embodiment, platform API 4003 exposes functions that permit device contexts to be used to select and initialize devices, submit work to devices via command queues, and enable data transfer to and from devices, among other things. In addition, OpenCL framework provides various built-in functions (not shown), including math functions, relational functions, and image processing functions, among others, in at least one embodiment.

In at least one embodiment, a compiler 4004 is also included in OpenCL frame-work 4005. Source code may be compiled offline prior to executing an application or online during execution of an application, in at least one embodiment. In contrast to CUDA and ROCm, OpenCL applications in at least one embodiment may be compiled online by compiler 4004, which is included to be representative of any number of compilers that may be used to compile source code and/or IR code, such as Standard Portable Intermediate Representation (“SPIR-V”) code, into binary code. Alternatively, in at least one embodiment, OpenCL applications may be compiled offline, prior to execution of such applications.

FIG. 41 illustrates software that is supported by a programming platform, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, a programming platform 4104 is configured to support various programming models 4103, middlewares and/or libraries 4102, and frameworks 4101 that an application 4100 may rely upon. In at least one embodiment, application 4100 may be an AI/ML application implemented using, in at least one embodiment, a deep learning framework such as MXNet, PyTorch, or TensorFlow, which may rely on libraries such as cuDNN, NVIDIA Collective Communications Library (“NCCL”), and/or NVIDA Developer Data Loading Library (“DALI”) CUDA libraries to provide accelerated computing on underlying hardware.

In at least one embodiment, programming platform 4104 may be one of a CUDA, ROCm, or OpenCL platform described above in conjunction with FIG. 33 , FIG. 34 , and FIG. 40 , respectively. In at least one embodiment, programming platform 4104 supports multiple programming models 4103, which are abstractions of an underlying computing system permitting expressions of algorithms and data structures. Programming models 4103 may expose features of underlying hardware in order to improve performance, in at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, programming models 4103 may include, but are not limited to, CUDA, HIP, OpenCL, C++Accelerated Massive Parallelism (“C++AMP”), Open Multi-Processing (“OpenMP”), Open Accelerators (“OpenACC”), and/or Vulcan Compute.

In at least one embodiment, libraries and/or middlewares 4102 provide implementations of abstractions of programming models 4104. In at least one embodiment, such libraries include data and programming code that may be used by computer programs and leveraged during software development. In at least one embodiment, such middlewares include software that provides services to applications beyond those available from programming platform 4104. In at least one embodiment, libraries and/or middlewares 4102 may include, but are not limited to, cuBLAS, cuFFT, cuRAND, and other CUDA libraries, or rocBLAS, rocFFT, rocRAND, and other ROCm libraries. In addition, in at least one embodiment, libraries and/or middlewares 4102 may include NCCL and ROCm Communication Collectives Library (“RCCL”) libraries providing communication routines for GPUs, a MlOpen library for deep learning acceleration, and/or an Eigen library for linear algebra, matrix and vector operations, geometrical transformations, numerical solvers, and related algorithms.

In at least one embodiment, application frameworks 4101 depend on libraries and/or middlewares 4102. In at least one embodiment, each of application frameworks 4101 is a software framework used to implement a standard structure of application software. An AI/ML application may be implemented using a framework such as Caffe, Caffe2, TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch, or MxNet deep learning frameworks, in at least one embodiment.

FIG. 42 illustrates compiling code to execute on one of programming platforms of FIGS. 37-40 , in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least one embodiment, a compiler 4201 receives source code 4200 that includes both host code as well as device code. In at least one embodiment, complier 4201 is configured to convert source code 4200 into host executable code 4202 for execution on a host and device executable code 4203 for execution on a device. In at least one embodiment, source code 4200 may either be compiled offline prior to execution of an application, or online during execution of an application.

In at least one embodiment, source code 4200 may include code in any programming language supported by compiler 4201, such as C++, C, Fortran, etc. In at least one embodiment, source code 4200 may be included in a single-source file having a mixture of host code and device code, with locations of device code being indicated therein. In at least one embodiment, a single-source file may be a .cu file that includes CUDA code or a .hip.cpp file that includes HIP code. Alternatively, in at least one embodiment, source code 4200 may include multiple source code files, rather than a single-source file, into which host code and device code are separated.

In at least one embodiment, compiler 4201 is configured to compile source code 4200 into host executable code 4202 for execution on a host and device executable code 4203 for execution on a device. In at least one embodiment, compiler 4201 performs operations including parsing source code 4200 into an abstract system tree (AST), performing optimizations, and generating executable code. In at least one embodiment in which source code 4200 includes a single-source file, compiler 4201 may separate device code from host code in such a single-source file, compile device code and host code into device executable code 4203 and host executable code 4202, respectively, and link device executable code 4203 and host executable code 4202 together in a single file, as discussed in greater detail below with respect to FIG. 26 .

In at least one embodiment, host executable code 4202 and device executable code 4203 may be in any suitable format, such as binary code and/or IR code. In a case of CUDA, host executable code 4202 may include native object code and device executable code 4203 may include code in PTX intermediate representation, in at least one embodiment. In a case of ROCm, both host executable code 4202 and device executable code 4203 may include target binary code, in at least one embodiment.

Other variations are within spirit of present disclosure. Thus, while disclosed techniques are susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof are shown in drawings and have been described above in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit disclosure to specific form or forms disclosed, but on contrary, intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within spirit and scope of disclosure, as defined in appended claims.

Use of terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in context of describing disclosed embodiments (especially in context of following claims) are to be construed to cover both singular and plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context, and not as a definition of a term. Terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. term “connected,” when unmodified and referring to physical connections, is to be construed as partly or wholly contained within, attached to, or joined together, even if there is something intervening. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within range, unless otherwise indicated herein and each separate value is incorporated into specification as if it were individually recited herein. In at least one embodiment, use of term “set” (e.g., “a set of items”) or “subset” unless otherwise noted or contradicted by context, is to be construed as a nonempty collection comprising one or more members. Further, unless otherwise noted or contradicted by context, term “subset” of a corresponding set does not necessarily denote a proper subset of corresponding set, but subset and corresponding set may be equal.

Conjunctive language, such as phrases of form “at least one of A, B, and C,” or “at least one of A, B and C,” unless specifically stated otherwise or otherwise clearly contradicted by context, is otherwise understood with context as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may be either A or B or C, or any nonempty subset of set of A and B and C. In at least one embodiment of a set having three members, conjunctive phrases “at least one of A, B, and C” and “at least one of A, B and C” refer to any of following sets: {A}, {B}, {C}, {A, B}, {A, C}, {B, C}, {A, B, C}. Thus, such conjunctive language is not generally intended to imply that certain embodiments require at least one of A, at least one of B and at least one of C each to be present. In addition, unless otherwise noted or contradicted by context, term “plurality” indicates a state of being plural (e.g., “a plurality of items” indicates multiple items). In at least one embodiment, a number of items in a plurality is at least two, but can be more when so indicated either explicitly or by context. Further, unless stated otherwise or otherwise clear from context, phrase “based on” means “based at least in part on” and not “based solely on.”

Operations of processes described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. In at least one embodiment, a process such as those processes described herein (or variations and/or combinations thereof) is performed under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions and is implemented as code (e.g., executable instructions, one or more computer programs or one or more applications) executing collectively on one or more processors, by hardware or combinations thereof. In at least one embodiment, code is stored on a computer-readable storage medium. In at least one embodiment, in form of a computer program comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors. In at least one embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that excludes transitory signals (e.g., a propagating transient electric or electromagnetic transmission) but includes non-transitory data storage circuitry (e.g., buffers, cache, and queues) within transceivers of transitory signals. In at least one embodiment, code (e.g., executable code or source code) is stored on a set of one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having stored thereon executable instructions (or other memory to store executable instructions) that, when executed (i.e., as a result of being executed) by one or more processors of a computer system, cause computer system to perform operations described herein. A set of non-transitory computer-readable storage media, in at least one embodiment, comprises multiple non-transitory computer-readable storage media and one or more of individual non-transitory storage media of multiple non-transitory computer-readable storage media lack all of code while multiple non-transitory computer-readable storage media collectively store all of code. In at least one embodiment, executable instructions are executed such that different instructions are executed by different processors—in at least one embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium store instructions and a main central processing unit (“CPU”) executes some of instructions while a graphics processing unit (“GPU”) executes other instructions. In at least one embodiment, different components of a computer system have separate processors and different processors execute different subsets of instructions.

Accordingly, in at least one embodiment, computer systems are configured to implement one or more services that singly or collectively perform operations of processes described herein and such computer systems are configured with applicable hardware and/or software that enable performance of operations. Further, a computer system that implements at least one embodiment of present disclosure is a single device and, in another embodiment, is a distributed computer system comprising multiple devices that operate differently such that distributed computer system performs operations described herein and such that a single device does not perform all operations.

Use of any and all of the at least one embodiments, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate embodiments of disclosure and does not pose a limitation on scope of disclosure unless otherwise claimed. No language in specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to practice of disclosure.

All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein.

In description and claims, terms “coupled” and “connected,” along with their derivatives, may be used. It should be understood that these terms may be not intended as synonyms for each other. Rather, in ones of at least one embodiments, “connected” or “coupled” may be used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct or indirect physical or electrical contact with each other. “Coupled” may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, it may be appreciated that throughout specification terms such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” or like, refer to action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical, such as electronic, quantities within computing system's registers and/or memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within computing system's memories, registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

In a similar manner, term “processor” may refer to any device or portion of a device that processes electronic data from registers and/or memory and transform that electronic data into other electronic data that may be stored in registers and/or memory. As non-limiting ones of the at least one embodiments, “processor” may be a CPU or a GPU. A “computing platform” may comprise one or more processors. As used herein, “software” processes may include, in at least one embodiment, software and/or hardware entities that perform work over time, such as tasks, threads, and intelligent agents. Also, each process may refer to multiple processes, for carrying out instructions in sequence or in parallel, continuously or intermittently. Terms “system” and “method” are used herein interchangeably insofar as system may embody one or more methods and methods may be considered a system.

In present document, references may be made to obtaining, acquiring, receiving, or inputting analog or digital data into a subsystem, computer system, or computer-implemented machine. In at least one embodiment, process of obtaining, acquiring, receiving, or inputting analog and digital data can be accomplished in a variety of ways such as by receiving data as a parameter of a function call or a call to an application programming interface. In some implementations, process of obtaining, acquiring, receiving, or inputting analog or digital data can be accomplished by transferring data via a serial or parallel interface. In another implementation, process of obtaining, acquiring, receiving, or inputting analog or digital data can be accomplished by transferring data via a computer network from providing entity to acquiring entity. References may also be made to providing, outputting, transmitting, sending, or presenting analog or digital data. In various ones of the at least one embodiments, process of providing, outputting, transmitting, sending, or presenting analog or digital data can be accomplished by transferring data as an input or output parameter of a function call, a parameter of an application programming interface or interprocess communication mechanism.

Although discussion above sets forth ones of the at least one embodiments having implementations of described techniques, other architectures may be used to implement described functionality, and are intended to be within scope of this disclosure. Furthermore, although specific distributions of responsibilities are defined above for purposes of discussion, various functions and responsibilities might be distributed and divided in different ways, depending on circumstances.

Furthermore, although subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that subject matter claimed in appended claims is not necessarily limited to specific features or acts described. Rather, specific features and acts are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A datacenter cooling system, comprising: an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit (RDU) to distribute refrigerant to one or more colds plates, the in-rack RDU associated with a pressure control system to enable a pressure-drop before an expansion valve for a liquid-phase of the refrigerant based in part on a first pressure of the liquid-phase of the refrigerant exceeding a first threshold and based in part on a temperature associated with the one or more cold plates being below a second threshold.
 2. The datacenter cooling system of claim 1, further comprising: at least one processor to determine the temperature associated with the one or more cold plates and to enable one or more flow controllers to cause the refrigerant to flow through the pressure control system to reach a second pressure that is below the first threshold.
 3. The datacenter cooling system of claim 1, further comprising: a first evaporator section associated with the one or more cold plates and a first refrigerant cooling loop; a first condenser unit associated with the first refrigerant cooling loop and within the in-rack RDU; a second evaporator section within the in-rack RDU and associated with a second refrigerant cooling loop and with the first condenser unit, the second evaporator section to form part of a refrigerant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger (R2RHX) along with the first condenser unit; a second condenser unit of the second refrigerant cooling loop located external to a datacenter to enable dissipation of heat from the one or more cold plates to an ambient environment that is external to the datacenter.
 4. The datacenter cooling system of claim 1, further comprising: an R2RHX to couple, within the in-rack RDU, multiple condenser units from multiple racks with a second evaporator section associated with the second refrigerant cooling loop so that different heat from different racks is dissipated to the ambient environment from a second condenser unit that is external to the in-rack RDU.
 5. The datacenter cooling system of claim 1, further comprising: at least one processor associated with the in-rack RDU to receive sensor inputs from sensors associated with at least one computing device, the at least one processor to enable a first refrigerant cooling loop or a second refrigerant cooling loop to provide cooling using the one or more cold plates.
 6. The datacenter cooling system of claim 5, further comprising: one or more neural networks of the at least one processor to receive the sensor inputs and to infer a cooling requirement for the first refrigerant cooling loop or the second refrigerant cooling loop, the cooling requirement in response to the temperature associated with the one or more cold plates.
 7. The datacenter cooling system of claim 1, further comprising: at least one processor associated with the in-rack RDU to cause one or more flow controllers to enable two or more of: a first refrigerant cooling loop to provide the refrigerant, a second refrigerant cooling loop to interface with the first refrigerant cooling loop within the in-rack RDU, or prevent flow of a secondary coolant to a secondary cooling loop.
 8. The datacenter cooling system of claim 1, wherein a first refrigerant cooling loop or a second refrigerant cooling loop enables flow of the refrigerant or an engineered fluid therethrough.
 9. The datacenter cooling system of claim 1, further comprising: one or more flow controllers to support flow through the refrigerant through a first refrigerant cooling loop, along with flow the refrigerant or a different refrigerant in a second refrigerant cooling loop.
 10. The datacenter cooling system of claim 1, further comprising: at least one processor to enable a first mode of a datacenter cooling system to provide cooling using a first refrigerant cooling loop to provide the refrigerant and to enable a second mode of the datacenter cooling system to provide cooling using a secondary cooling loop.
 11. A processor comprising one or more circuits, the one or more circuits to determine a pressure of a liquid-phase of a refrigerant exceeding a first threshold and to determine a temperature associated with one or more cold plates being below a second threshold, the processor to enable a pressure control system of an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit (RDU) to cause a response to the temperature and to cause a pressure-drop, before an expansion valve, for the liquid-phase of the refrigerant.
 12. The processor of claim 11, further comprising: an output to provide signals for one or more flow controllers to enable a first refrigerant cooling loop to provide the refrigerant or to enable a second refrigerant cooling loop to interface with the first refrigerant cooling loop.
 13. The processor of claim 11, further comprising: an input to receive sensor inputs from sensors associated with at least one computing device or the one or more cold plates, the processor to determine a first cooling requirement associated with the refrigerant of a first refrigerant cooling loop or with the refrigerant or a different refrigerant of the second refrigerant cooling loop and to determine a second cooling requirement associated with a secondary cooling loop, the secondary cooling loop associated with a primary cooling loop.
 14. The processor of claim 13, further comprising: one or more neural networks to receive the sensor inputs and to infer the first cooling requirement and the second cooling requirement.
 15. The processor of claim 11, further comprising: one or more neural networks to infer a failure of a secondary cooling loop, the one or more circuits to cause one or more flow controllers to activate a first refrigerant cooling loop to provide the refrigerant.
 16. A method for datacenter cooling system, comprising: providing an in-rack refrigerant distribution unit (RDU) to distribute refrigerant to one or more colds plates; determining a temperature associated with the one or more cold plates; enabling the in-rack RDU to be associated with a pressure control system; and enabling the pressure control system to cause a pressure-drop before an expansion valve for a liquid-phase of the refrigerant based in part on a pressure of the liquid-phase of the refrigerant exceeding a first threshold and based in part on the temperature being below a second threshold.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: determining, using at least one processor, the temperature associated with the one or more cold plates; determining a first cooling requirement or a second cooling requirement using the temperature; and causing, based in part on the first cooling requirement or the second cooling requirement, a first refrigerant cooling loop to distribute the refrigerant, a second refrigerant cooling loop to interface with the first refrigerant cooling loop within the in-rack RDU, or a secondary cooling loop, the secondary cooling loop associated with a primary cooling loop.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: receiving, in the at least one processor, sensor inputs from sensors associated with at least one computing device, a rack, a secondary coolant, the one or more cold plates, or the refrigerant; and determining, using the at least one processor, the first cooling requirement and the second cooling requirement based in part on the sensor inputs.
 19. The method of claim 16, further comprising: enabling a refrigerant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger (R2RHX) of the in-rack RDU to couple multiple condenser units from multiple racks with a second evaporator section associated with a second refrigerant cooling loop so that different heat from different racks is dissipated to an ambient environment from a second condenser unit that is located external to the in-rack RDU.
 20. The method of claim 16, further comprising: receiving, by at least one processor, sensor inputs from sensors associated with at least one computing device; determining, by the at least one processor, a change in a coolant state based in part on the sensor inputs; and causing, based in part on the change in the coolant state, the first refrigerant cooling loop, the second refrigerant cooling loop, or a secondary cooling loop, the secondary cooling loop associated with a primary cooling loop. 